


Flowers of Yavanna

by SOABA



Series: Gifts of the Valar [1]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bilbo Remains In Erebor, Assassination Attempt(s), Dwobbits, F/M, Families of Choice, Female Bilbo, Fix-It, Khuzdul, M/M, Magic, Overprotective Dwarves, Post-Battle of Five Armies, Rule 63
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-11
Updated: 2014-08-16
Packaged: 2018-02-12 17:55:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2119293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SOABA/pseuds/SOABA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because the belief that Hobbits grew their babies in a cabbage patch had to come from somewhere.</p><p>“What’s on your wrist, Bella?” Tauriel asked from her place at the dining table when Bél walked past her, nodding toward Bella’s right side.</p><p>Bella frowned and looked down at her right hand and then her mouth fell open in shock. Printed on the inside of her wrist, directly underneath her palm, plain as daylight, was a circlet of lily-shaped blossoms connected by an emerald green vine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**_Flowers of Yavanna_ **

 

_Because the belief that Hobbits grew their babies in a cabbage patch had to come from somewhere. Warning: Gratuitous use of Khuzdûl. Translations provided at end of the story. All of the original characters were stolen from a much longer story that I am currently working on, so if you like this you can check them out in that once I finish the first part of that behemoth. I reread the Gardening Verse by **The Feels Whale (Miscellea)** a few days ago and I simply had to write this. Please review; I totally welcome constructive criticism and comments that force me to think as they can help make me a better writer. I really hope you all enjoy this!_

**(+)**

 

“Good morning, Dwalin. Good morning, Tauriel,” Bella greeted with a smile, “I’ve brought raspberry muffins and gooseberry sticky buns, if you know of any captains around who might want some.”

 

“You’re my favorite sibling, sister dear,” Dwalin told her, accepting the plate she handed him with a wide grin.

 

“Don’t let Balin hear you say that,” Bella cautioned.

 

“Eh, he doesn’t care. You’re his favorite sibling too.”

 

Bella laughed, “Here you are, Tauriel. I don’t suppose you know where your darling husband and his elder brother are this fine morn? Dori’s looking for them. They have fittings scheduled for today. They’re supposed to be getting new outfits for the Spring Festival, by order of Thorin.”

 

“Good luck finding them then,” Dwalin interjected around a mouthful of sticky bun, “They hate being fitted for new clothes.”

 

“Kíli was still sleeping when I left our rooms this morning,” Tauriel replied, taking her sweets with a grateful grin, “I am not sure were he would be now. Perhaps look in the Crystal Caverns? They do love sneaking around down there and stealing mushrooms when the guards aren’t looking.”

 

“I blame Nori,” Dwalin said, “He clearly has had far too great an influence on them. I just pray they never find Nori’s secret mushroom stash. Mahal help our Spymaster if Thorin’s sister-sons manage to kill themselves by consuming Nori’s questionably-legal crop. Ori’d never forgive me if I had to arrest his brother… again.”

 

“Neither would Bofur,” Bella added, “I’ll check the caverns, but if they’re not there Dori will just have to reschedule their fittings. I have lessons with Balin in half an hour, then I have to meet Bombur to go over the final menu for the Muhudtuzakhmerag, help Ori translate some new texts he found written in Greentongue, get the Shadow Shield’s weekly report from Nori, and then argue with Thorin some more about why I do not need bodyguards.”

 

“For the record, I still agree with our King about that last one,” Dwalin said, licking glaze off of his fingers.

 

“Yes, I know,” Bella retorted dryly, “Your opinion, and that of every other male in the Company, has been noted. At _great_ length.”

 

“They’ll probably never stop seeing you as a delicate flower from the Shire,” Tauriel interjected with a shrug, “It’s a universal truth that encompasses nearly all men-folk in regards to the women in their lives.”

 

“Yes, well, I am more than capable of taking care of myself,” Bella insisted, “Or have you forgotten that I riddled with a dragon?”

 

“You also laughed at the blasted beast and nearly killed yourself protecting His Royal Gruffness and his wayward heirs from Bolg during the final battle,” Dwalin pointed out, “Which makes us seriously doubt your instincts for self-preservation.”

 

“I killed Bolg, Dwalin.”

 

“After being nearly skewered to death.”

 

“No guards. End of story,” Bella huffed and rolled her eyes, “I’m going to the caverns now. Enjoy the pastries.”

 

“How about just one guard?” Dwalin offered.

 

“ _No_ ,” Bella called back to him as she began walking away in the direction of the Crystal Caverns.

 

“We’ll wear you down eventually,” Dwalin shouted to her retreating form.

 

“Ha!” Bella retorted, before turning her attention to the task of finding her brothers of gold and coal colored hair.

 

**(+)**

 

The Crystal Caverns were massive and, as always, filled Bella with awe as she wasted a few moments to take them in. The walls of the enormous caves were covered with millions of crystals, which ranged from the size of Bél’s fingernail to larger than an Oliphaunt, that glowed brightly in what otherwise would have been an inky dark.

 

The cool caverns, as the dwarves had discovered centuries earlier, were the perfect place to grow hundreds of different types of mushrooms. Mostly edible ones, mind you, but there were a handful of poisonous varieties that Nori and his Shadow Shields carefully cultivated in a hidden grove. Thorin hadn’t exactly been pleased to learn of this latter development, but since Nori’s actions had Bella’s approval, because she was well aware that sometimes subterfuge was wiser than a simple outright attack, he had allowed the Spymaster to continue with them.

 

“Your Majesty,” a pair of guards bowed low as she headed in their direction.

 

“Good morning, Sóir, Han,” Bella nodded her head at them, “Have you perchance seen Their Highnesses, Prince Fíli and Prince Kíli today?”

 

“I have not, Milady,” Han replied.

 

“I didn’t see them, Your Majesty,” Sóir said, “But I thought I heard them not ten minutes ago when I was patrolling over near the Eastern Drop. Would you like us to accompany you over there?”

 

“I appreciate the offer,” Bella said. “But I do know better than to get close to the falls. I’ll be fine.”

 

“As you wish, Milady,” Sóir said respectfully.

 

Bella left the guards behind and walked in the direction of the large three-plunge waterfall christened as ‘The Eastern Drop’. It made sense that her brothers would be around that area, their three favorite types of mushrooms grew in the smaller rooms right by the fall.

 

The first few groves that she checked were void of any wayward princes, but in the sixth area she checked she managed to locate them.

 

“What in the blazes do you two think you’re doing up there?” Bella demanded, hands on her hips, as she caught sight of her two oldest brothers perched up high on two giant glowing crystals and snacking on lilac capped mushrooms that Bella recognized as being Blewits.

 

“Supervising the growth of the kingdom’s greatest mushroom garden and ensuring that the crop is up to snuff,” Kíli said cheekily.

 

“Uh huh,” Bella raised an eyebrow, “Well you’re supposed to be with Dori.”

 

Her brothers visibly deflated at the reminder. “Oh yeah,” Fíli said, “We forgot all about that.”

 

“I’m sure,” Bella replied with an air of disbelief, “But now that I’ve reminded you, the pair of you are going to skedaddle over to the Clothweaver Guild’s headquarters right away, isn’t that so?”

 

“Of course we are,” Fíli assured, “After we finish eating our mushrooms.”

 

“And the rest of the ones in the whole of the caverns, right?”

 

“Namad!” Fíli exclaimed with a hand over his heart in mock sadness, “You truly have such little faith in us?”

 

“I have great faith that you two will do whatever you can to get out of going to Dori’s” Bella retorted, “And that apparently includes trying to exploit my care for you.”

 

Fíli and Kíli looked suitably chastised at that.

 

“Fine,” Kíli sighed, “We’ll go, but if we die from lockjaw because we get excessively poked with those awful needles, you’ll miss us.”

 

Bella rolled her eyes, “If you two didn’t wiggle around so much during the fittings then you wouldn’t get pricked. Besides, there isn’t a trace of rust on Dori’s needles.”

 

“Not on the needles he uses when you’re around,” Fíli argued, “When you aren’t there he brings out ones that are practically _made_ of rust.”

 

“Go, Nudûduh, and I shall make meat pies to have with your breakfast tomorrow _and_ strawberry strudel for a snack.”

 

Fíli and Kíli took off immediately, making Bella grin in triumph. There was nothing she couldn’t get them do when she bribed them with their favorite foods.

 

As she made her way out of the glowing caves, Bella rounded a corner and nearly ran into the Ladies Duruta and Durita. They were siblings, although Duruta was nearly a century older than her younger sister, as evidenced by her thick silver hair and beard. Durita’s were still mostly ebony in color, although a few streaks of grey were visible when one looked at her sideburns hard enough.

 

“Your Majesty,” Duruta greeted coldly.

 

“Good morn, Lady Duruta, Lady Durita,” Bella replied, “Are you feeling well today?”

 

“We are, Your Majesty,” Durita answered, “And you?”

 

“Yes, I’m doing just fine,” Bella said, “Thank you.”

 

“I beg your pardon, Majesty,” Duruta spoke up before Bella could say anything else, “But my sister and I are in a hurry.”

 

“Yes, of course!” Bella nodded at them, “Have a good day.”

 

The pair of ladies murmured a hasty response before moving away as fast as they could. Bella sighed at the sight of their retreating forms.

 

‘Try to make friends with others in the court,’ Balin had instructed months ago, ‘The goodwill of those in the Lower Council is worth far more than any amount of gold in your pockets.’

 

Well Bél had certainly tried, but the lesser Lords and Ladies of the Court, save for Lords Móin and Bróin, (who were Óin and Glóin’s distant cousins and therefore didn’t really count because they would do anything for the approval of their favored family members), had little interest in becoming her friends.

 

Despite her family’s many attempts to keep her in the dark about it, Bella knew well what many members of Thorin’s Court thought of her. Not because they would ever speak badly about her to her face or even when remotely near a member of the High Council, (not unless they wanted their tongues removed), but because of Bella’s ring.

 

Her brothers and Thorin had the ridiculous notion that Bella should never leave the mountain without a proper escort, (if at all), which was a polite euphemism for having twenty guards, five Shadow Shields, and at least three members of the Company stalking her. It was a rather annoying arrangement, so Bella had come to the decision that sneaking out of Erebor with her magic ring on her middle finger was the only way that she was going to keep her sanity intact. Thorin didn’t agree with her solution, but no one wanted a repeat of the ‘Epic Fight to End All Epic Fights’ that took place when he tried to forbid her from doing it (it had made the Arkenstone incident look tame in comparison), so he kept his mouth shut about it and only occasionally sent looks of extreme disapproval her way when he found out she had been in Dale or the woods by herself.

 

It was when she was returning from one of these trips that she first heard the nasty things many of those Lords and Ladies, who were fairly embittered at not having Thorin’s trust and goodwill like they would have if Smaug had never come, were saying about her. They had implied, and not with any sort of subtleness, that she was a whore, having slept her way into the favor of the King and was sleeping with the Princes behind Thorin’s back. She was apparently also a witch planning on enchanting all the dwarves of Erebor to do her bidding.

 

She had refrained from telling Thorin or any of the others what she had heard. Despite what they believed, Bél was perfectly capable of handling problems on her own. Besides, telling them would only stir up trouble in the Court which Erebor didn’t need to have to deal with. The Kingdom was still undergoing reconstruction from Smaug’s rampage. Plus, especially considering that the great hostility between Erebor and the Woodland Realm was already making people nervous, dissent taking place within the Mountain could be dangerous.

 

Bella sighed for a second time before continuing on her way to Balin’s, deciding to put her concerns about the Lower Council behind her for the time being.

 

“Ah, there you are, Bella,” Balin said she entered his study a few minutes later, “Do sit down so that we may begin.”

 

After Bella complied he continued, “Today we are going to focus on the proper way to structure Khuzdûl verbs.”

 

**(+)**

 

Once her Khuzdûl lessons ended, Bella headed straight to the Royal Kitchens to eat lunch and to make sure that Bombur had finalized the menu for the Spring Festival. She was greeted by her brother shoving a piece of venison into her mouth.

 

“Do you like it?” Bombur asked in excitement.

 

“It’s wonderful, Bombur,” Bella told him once she had swallowed the small hunk of meat.

 

“I based the recipe off of the venison dish you fed us in the Shire,” Bombur revealed, “I marinated the meat in high quality red wine,” he held up a half-full decanter for her to see before leaning in to whisper, “It came from the Woodland Realm. Don’t tell Thorin, but the elves really do have _excellent_ taste in wine.”

 

“Don’t worry,” Bella winked at him, “It’ll be our little secret.”

 

“Here, try this!” Bombur set a bowl of thick soup on a nearby table and ushered her into a chair.

 

“Mushrooms!” Bella exclaimed after taking a spoonful, “Oh, Bombur, this is heavenly. You used Almond Woodwax and Amethyst Chanterelle didn’t you?”

 

“Yes,” Bombur confirmed happily, I chopped them up fine and combined them with white cheddar cheese, diced bacon, and the broth from the venison.”

 

“This is the best soup I have ever had,” Bella praised.

 

“Thank you. Oh,” Bombur said, “Dip these biscuits in the soup,” he set half a dozen golden scones next to her, “They’ve got Swiss cheese and basil in them.”

 

Bella moaned in delight after taking a bite.

 

Once she had finished her meal and tried forkfuls of several different desserts at Bombur’s prompting, Bél made her way from the kitchens to the Great Library. The place was aptly named, especially once you considered its massive size and the thousands upon thousands of books that it sheltered within its walls. Ori had cried the first time he had seen it. Bella could understand his reaction.

 

The Library was so big that it actually had two parts, the Mekeb-farak and the Mekeb-faham. The former was, as its name suggested, toward the southern side of Erebor while the latter was toward the northern side and slightly elevated above the other, requiring a patron to ascend a steep flight of stairs to reach it. It was far greater that even the exalted libraries of Rivendell and Gondor.

 

Ori and his Scribes were fiercely protective of the books that filled the enormous chamber. Many of them were one-of-a-kind and had to be handled with extreme care. The fact that they had all survived Smaug’s desolating occupation of the Mountain had been an unexpected boon when it was discovered. Ori was bound and determined to ensure that they continued to last, which meant he had spent many long hours restoring fading passages and reinking discolored pictures and paintings.

 

There was no one alive who could tell the returned people of Erebor just what literary treasures the Great Library contained, so every day, even nearly five years after the Lonely Mountain’s reclamation, Ori and his Scribes found something new to marvel at. There were countless rare texts penned in Khuzdûl, Sindarin, and Quenya amidst those written in Westron, but what currently had the Scribes of Erebor in a tizzy was the recent discovery of a hidden room, found a few weeks earlier when Bella had tumbled through a seemingly innocuous empty bookcase while climbing it to reach what she thought was a book on wildflowers.

 

Bél had tugged on the purple book’s spine and realized that it was not actually a book at all when the book shelf she was perched on gave way to reveal a large room filled with hundreds of new texts and lit by thousands of tiny glow crystals. Her startled scream had brought all of the Scribes, dozens of guards, and half of her brothers running toward her, cementing her suspicion that she really was being followed everywhere she went.

 

“Bella!” Fíli had cried, racing to help her stand back up, “What happened?”

 

“I, um, fell,” Bella had told him, allowing him and a fretting Dori to brush off the dust that had settled on her, “But look, I found more books!”

 

Ori and the Scribes had been ecstatic at the find, and then awestruck when they realized that all of the scrolls and books and heavy stone engravings were done in Greentongue.

 

The language of Hobbits was as much of a sacred secret as Khuzdûl, perhaps even more so considering the fact that very few non-Hobbits even knew that it existed. It was the language of a Hobbit’s heart, given to them by Yavanna to cherish and was the source of all Hobbit Magic. They weren’t taught how to speak and read it, they were simply born knowing how to do such things, which made teaching it to others an extremely difficult task.

 

Fortunately, Ori and his Scribes were all incredibly intelligent dwarves and that made Bella’s significant undertaking a tad less troublesome. So it was that most days following luncheon, she met the bookish group in the Mekeb-farak to help both translate the new texts and instruct them in how to read and speak Greentongue.

 

“Bella,” Ori called out when he caught sight of her walking in their direction, “What does ‘Blodyn Hud’ mean?”

 

“Flower Magic,” Bella answered as she sidled up next to him, “Why do you ask?”

 

“We found this beautiful scroll,” Vëga, a studious young dwarrowdam, said in reply from the other side of the table that the Scribes were gathered at, “It has a complex design of rainbow swirls printed around the text, I’ve never seen so many colors on one document before, and it’s been coated with some form of wax to protect it from water and oils.”

 

“We think it’s beeswax,” Ori added.

 

“I didn’t know that Hobbits had magic,” Nëga, Vëga’s younger sister remarked.

 

“Mmm hmm,” Bella hummed before saying, “We have a penchant for growing things that eclipses the attempts of every other race, except perhaps the Ents when they truly put their minds to cultivating,” Bella shrugged, “It’s not like we use spells or anything, it’s more that we pour our hearts and souls into the things we grow. Some Hobbits are better at it than others.”

 

“Oh,” Vëga said disappointed, “The words on the scroll looked like a spell.”

 

“Show me.”

 

Ori moved aside so that Bél could take in the document that was spread out on the table. Like Vëga had said, there was an extraordinary medley of colorful hues that wove around one another in a mosaic pattern. At first glance it seemed like just a pretty design but the more Bella looked, she realized that she was seeing an abstract depiction of a flower garden on paper.

 

“It’s a poem!” Bella realized, “About the flowers of spring,” Bella pointed to the second stanza, “Here it talks about the blessing that flowers will bring a family.”

 

“Can you translate it for us?” a male scribe named Rói requested.

 

“Of course,” Bella smiled widely at them all, “Let’s see. The first line goes…”

 

**(+)**

 

Bella dropped as a dwarven assailant came unheralded at her from the shadows. She spun her legs and knocked him to the ground, simultaneously flipping a knife out of her sleeves. Another second and she had him pinned, with the flat of her blade pressed to his throat.

 

“Well done,” Nori praised, “But you should be pointing the sharp end at me.”

 

“But I knew it was you,” Bella objected, standing to allow him to get back up.

 

“Well one day it might _not_ be me,” Nori told her, “And if that day ever comes you cannot hesitate like you do now. A true assassin could have killed you ten times over from the moment you left the Mekebel.”

 

Bella took that statement in and then sighed, “I don’t like the idea that I could accidentally hurt you, Nadad.”

 

“You won’t,” Nori’s expression softened, something that only happened around Bél, Ori, and Bofur, “I’m a bit more proficient than your usual run-of-the-mill attacker.”

 

“Very well,” Bella bit her lip, “Your report?”

 

“There is some discord between the Platinum and Bronze Smithing Guilds. Apparently, some of the dwarrows in the guilds decided to challenge one another to a drinking contest three days ago. The bronze workers won, and got quite a pretty amount of coin too, but the platinum workers accused them of cheating the next morning. The bronze smiths took such a claim as slight upon their honor and there have been several brawls since then,” Nori disclosed, “The shields have been forced to step in a few times to prevent anybody from dying. There’s a threat of an all out feud.”

 

Bella frowned, “Why is the Platinum Guild so sure that the bronze smiths cheated?”

 

“Because they did,” Nori announced, “But there’s no way they’ll ever admit it.”

 

“How do you even cheat at a drinking contest?”

 

“One of the bronze workers was standing in as a bartender in the Black Gold Tavern that day, for his older brother. He watered down the ale he served his fellow smiths and served ale with shots of Firemead to those in the Platinum Guild.”

 

“Send each of the platinum workers involved in the contest two bottles of Rose Butter Ale and _suggest_ that they stay away from the bronze smiths for a few weeks,” Bella instructed, “Hopefully the distraction of the Spring Festival will help them put this behind them.”

 

“They’re dwarves,” Nori pointed out, “We’re very good at holding grudges, but the alcohol may indeed soften their tempers.”

 

“That’s better than nothing,” Bella said, “Is there anything else I should know?”

 

“Not regarding Erebor,” Nori hesitated a moment before saying, “There are whispers coming from Esgaroth. The new Master of Laketown is supposedly just as corrupt as the previous one and is causing problems for King Bard. One of those whispers was of a potential threat to the bowman’s life.”

 

“Bard is our ally, Nori,” Bella chastised, “And a threat to him and Dale is a threat to this kingdom as well.”

 

“That’s why I took out the threat yesterday.”

 

Bella shot him a look that plainly stated that she didn’t want the specifics, “You need to warn Bard that he and his children may still be in danger.”

 

“But then he’ll think that we like him.”

 

“ _Nori_.”

 

“Alright, alright, I’ll send word to Bard,” Nori conceded to her.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Your Majesty! Lord Nori!” a young dwarrowdam came rushing up to them then. She was wearing the silver and blue tunic that marked her as a servant of the Royal Family, but Bella didn’t recognize her, meaning that girl was most likely a new hire since Bél made it a habit of knowing the names all of the dwarves she came into regular contact with. It was simply good manners.

 

The girl curtsied clumsily before explaining, “An emergency session of the Court has been called to begin in an hour’s time. The King has commanded that all those in the Higher Council attend.”

 

Bella and Nori shared a brief look of alarm.

 

“Thank you, Raylís,” Nori he inclined his head toward the girl, who quickly scampered away, before turning to Bél, “There have been no whispers about an unscheduled meeting. I don’t like this.”

 

Bella knew that his lack of knowledge had to be irking him immensely, “Have the Shields conceal themselves in the wings,” she instructed quietly, “If something bad _has_ happened then they shall need to be aware of it sooner rather than later.”

 

Nori nodded before fading away into the shadows. Bella herself marched toward her chambers, mentally replacing ‘argue with Thorin’ with ‘dress for an unanticipated and frankly undesirable assembly’ on her list of things she had to do today.

 

**(+)**

 

Court was held every single Mersday without fail, and usually _only_ on Mersdays. An emergency session being called on a Highday could only mean trouble, big trouble. Nervous anticipation boiled in Bella’s gut, but she took care not to show her unease to anyone.

 

Bella glided swiftly into the Council Hall, looking every bit the Queen of Erebor in her blue silken, sapphire-laden gown, Sting strapped to her side, diamonds woven into her braids and clipped into her hair and a crown of mithril and sapphire atop her head. Her mithril and gold marriage braids framed her face perfectly and her wedding ring and band glittered from their place on her third finger when the light struck them at the right angle.

 

She got quite a few looks as she took her place in the dual seat, a smaller and less ornate version of the thrones in the King’s Hall, at her husband’s right side on the raised platform at the end of the hall. Some were of appreciation and pride, directed at her by Thorin and the High Council, made up of her brothers, sister, and Dís. A great deal more, however, were composed of barely-concealed contempt, all coming from the further end of the hall, where those that made up the Lower Council sat.

 

Sadly, Bella had quite a bit of practice ignoring such looks. She had gotten them often enough in the Shire before she had run off on a mad quest with thirteen dwarves and a wizard.

 

“What is going on?” Thorin spoke after everyone had settled into their seats, “Why have you requested this unscheduled audience?”

 

“It’s terrible!” Lord Bombi fretted fearfully.

 

“Simply awful!” Lord Rombi agreed.

 

“What has happened?” Thorin demanded again in alarm.

 

“Völuspá has gone missing!” Lady Blini cried out in despair.

 

There was a very long moment of silence that had Bella wanting to bury her face in her hands. To her dismay, queens had to show decorum in all things and that included this.

 

“If you all have actually called an emergency Meeting of the Councils about a wayward poet,” Thorin said through gritted teeth, “When I have a hundred actually important tasks that require my attention right now, I am going to throw each one of you in the dungeons.”

 

“ _Thorin_ ,” Dís hissed.

 

“You are all well aware that Völuspá tends to go off by himself every once in a while to ‘enhance his creativity’ and that he always turns back up,” Thorin continued, “He knows when the Festival of Spring is and I have no doubt that he will return in time for it. So someone had better tell me the _real_ reason why this meeting was called.”

 

There was a moment of silence before Lord Kril stood up, “There is another issue that needs to be addressed immediately, Sire.”

 

“Sit down, Kril,” Lord Bróin snapped in trepidation.

 

Kril ignored him, “It has been nearly five years since you reclaimed our homeland, Sire, and almost as long since you married. Those of us who lived in Ered Luin are well aware of the fertility of Hobbits. As your queen has not yet given you a child, it has become clear to us all that Dwarves and Halflings are not meant to mix.”

 

Bella felt all the blood in her face drain away.

 

The fertility of Hobbits. If only that were true of her.

 

Bella had grown as every other female of her race, developing lovely curves and breasts, with one glaring exception to her otherwise normal puberty. While her female cousins and friends had all found themselves dealing with Bloodmoons, like their mothers and grandmothers before them, once they entered into their tween years, Bella had not.

 

Bungo and Belladonna had, for a time, insisted that she would get her first Bloodmoon when her body was ready for it. But as her coming-of-age grew nearer and nearer and there was no sign of her cycle starting, Bél’s parents decided to take her to see one of the Shire’s herb-witches. After several long embarrassing hours of being examined naked, the herb-witch, Hazel, had given Bella and her parents the worst news a Hobbit woman could ever receive.

 

Bella was barren.

 

The shame of his only child being incapable of creating new life was far too harsh of a reality for Bungo Baggins to take. He had died six months later. Bungo’s loss took its toll on Belladonna, and she passed on less than a year later, leaving her daughter alone and broken. At least until that fateful day when a wizard descended upon Bag End with an offer of adventure and excitement and a chance to no longer be an outcast for something Bella could not control.

 

Thorin and her brothers, although they did not yet call themselves such, had found out about her fruitless womb fairly early in their quest. The dwarrows had worried that the Orcs chasing them might smell Bella bleeding and therefore find their party easier and Bella had been forced to tell them why such a fear was unfounded. Because there were many dwarrowdams who suffered similarly, the Company hadn’t seen Bél’s infertility as symbol of inferiority, which was a welcome change from how people had acted toward her in the Shire. They had simply shrugged at the news and carried on.

 

“Bél is half of nothing!” Kíli bellowed, drawing her attention back to the present.

 

“You will not refer to our Queen in such a derogatory way,” Dwalin snarled.

 

“But, everyone calls them Halflings,” Lady Oddvá said in confusion.

 

“Well they shouldn’t,” Bofur spoke up, “It’s an insult to their entire race.”

 

“As I was saying,” Kril interrupted loudly to draw everyone’s attention back to him, “Is that it would be in everyone’s best interest for you to sire a child, Your Majesty, with someone who is capable of carrying it.”

 

“What Lord Kril is suggesting, Your Majesty,” Lady Durita clarified, seeing Thorin’s stormy expression, “Is that you take a mistress, one who can birth you a child.”

 

“Exactly,” Kril agreed, “Surely your Queen understands the importance of continuing the sacred line of Durin.”

 

“And why couldn’t the line of Durin continue through me?” Fíli challenged, “Or my brother?”

 

“You are the offspring of a female,” Lord Kálvur retorted haughtily, “And your brother’s dalliance with that she-elf is a taint upon this mountain! The line of Durin would surely wither if it depended on the pair of you!”

 

Tauriel was forced to hold Kíli down to keep him from drawing a blade across Kálvur’s throat in response to that grave insult.

 

“Silence!” Thorin rose in anger, “My sister-sons are my heirs and always shall be, even _if_ I were to be theoretically blessed with a child. The blood of my sister is in no way inferior to that of my own and you shall never imply otherwise again. Furthermore, the Lady Tauriel is a cherished member of my household and outranks most of you sitting in this room. If I hear any more murmurings against her of any sort, so help me Mahal, I will throw those incapable of holding their tongues in the dungeons for a month!”

 

Everybody looked at him, too stunned to say anything in response to their King’s outburst. Dís and Tauriel wore matching expressions of surprised gratitude.

 

“This farce of a Court Session is over,” Thorin resolved, before storming out.

 

“Well that went well,” Dwalin said sarcastically, making Balin sigh, “You all are _idiots_.”

 

Bella rose demurely, gave the Lower Council an icy look that left them all chilled, and then left the hall to seemingly follow her husband.

 

The moment she was in the clear, Bella slipped on her magic ring and took off running.

 

**(+)**

 

The large garden on the Secret Terrace was, in Bella’s opinion, the greatest gift Thorin had ever given to her. She had spent uncountable hours transforming the charred piece of land and the crumbling stone into a blossoming courtyard filled with herbs and fruits and vegetables and all manner of flowers. Thick green ivy covered both sides and the top of the safety wall, spilling over it on one side to dangle hundreds of feet in the air and providing a soft cushion for Bella to lean against on the other.

 

That was where Thorin found her, several hours later, slumped over with her face buried in her hands.

 

“Everyone missed you at dinner,” Thorin began, moving close to her, “Bombur was quite disappointed that you weren’t there to try his new recipe, a rather delicious paste made from chickpeas that is meant to be spread on flattened garlic biscuits.”

 

“I wasn’t hungry,” Bella said dejectedly.

 

“Because of what that bastard, Kálvur said at the council,” Thorin guessed, “I ordered him thrown into the dungeons for a fortnight for his insolence once I calmed down. He’ll miss all the revelries of Muhudtuzakhmerag.”

 

“Because of the unchangeable reality that what he said is true!” Bella replied, “I can’t give you children, Thorin!”

 

“Which I was well aware of when I married you,” Thorin pointed out before taking his distressed queen into his arms, “You have given me your love, Bella, and that it a far greater gift than any other and far more than I deserve,” Thorin nuzzled her nose in affection, “You are my Ughvashâ, my Sanâzyung, and the true Kurdu _Mizim ‘Abadaz, not the Arkenstone.”_

_After another moment, Bella relaxed into his arms, “The Lower Council will never be pleased until you give them an heir.”_

_“I have an heir, two of them in fact,” Thorin reminded, “Their names are Fíli and Kíli and they take great delight in turning my hairs silver.”_

_Bella huffed a laugh before sobering back up, “Maybe you should-”_

_“Absolutely not.” Thorin stopped her resolutely, “Don’t even suggest it.”_

_“You have no idea what I was going to say.”_

_“You were going to propose that I take a mistress like Kril advocated for earlier,” Thorin contradicted her assertion, “And I’m telling you right now that such a disgusting proposition shall never come to pass. With Mahal as my witness, I swear that to you and I shall swear it before the whole of Erebor if I have to.”_

_“I will have no other lover save for you, Melekunuh,” Thorin finished, “Not even should time itself come to an end.”_

 

Bella suddenly felt very warm indeed as a lustful heat spread through her, causing her cheeks and neck to flush, “Prove it.”

 

And so Thorin did.

 

**(+)**

 

Bella felt far better the following morning as she woke to Thorin trailing kisses down her body.

 

“Mahzâyung,” She requested in a half-sleepy murmur of Khuzdûl and Thorin was more than happy to oblige her supplication.

 

Their love-making was filled with far more tenderness in the light of a new day, not the frantic couplings that they had shared the previous evening. They eventually ended up curled together in the oversized platinum tub in Bella’s bathroom, rubbing mint bath oil into each other’s skin.

 

A sudden pounding on the bathroom doors made them start. “Breakfast is nearly ready you two, so you had better hurry up,” Dís adjured, “You both have places to be today!”

 

Thorin glared at the door so fiercely that Bella feared he meant to incinerate his younger sister with sheer force of will.

 

“We’ll be out in a few minutes,” Bella called back, grabbing a nearby golden pitcher so that they could rinse the soap of their bodies and out of their hair.

 

“She’s infuriating,” Thorin communicated to his wife through the waterfall of warm liquid cascading down upon him.

 

“She’s you sister,” Bella quipped, “It’s her job.”

 

They finished in the bath fairly quickly and then pulled on the clothes that either Dís or Dori, who were confident that their King and Queen were hopeless at dressing themselves, had set out for them to wear.

 

They then made their way into Bella's Sitting Room where their large family was congregated for the Sterday morning meal, a tradition that had been started immediately following the Battle of the Five Armies and had been kept religiously ever since. The family also ate dinner together every Highday, Sunday, and Hevensday, rotating between Bella, Bombur, and Dori’s chambers like clockwork. Dinner on Mersday and Trewsday nights were eaten in the Great Dinning Hall with all of the citizens of Erebor present, as was tradition, while Sterday and Sunday suppers were reserved for the smaller units that composed their large family. All lunches, save for on Trewsday when they all marched outside for a picnic on the mountainside, and any other meals, were taken wherever they happened to be, at work or play.

 

“What’s on your wrist, Bella?” Tauriel asked from her place at the dining table when Bél walked past her, nodding toward Bella’s right side.

 

Bella frowned and looked down at her right hand and then her mouth fell open in shock. Printed on the inside of her wrist, directly underneath her palm, plain as daylight, was a circlet of lily-shaped blossoms connected by an emerald green vine.

 

“When did you get an inking, Bél?” Kíli remarked from over her shoulder, furrowing his brows as he took in the wreath of gold and silver flowers on Bella’s delicate wrist.

 

“I didn’t,” Bella breathed out harshly, “This isn’t a tattoo.”

 

“Then what is it?” Glóin demanded despite his mouth being full of sausage, “And why have you gone so pale?”

 

Gala hit the back of his head, “Manners.”

 

“It’s… it’s the mark of Yavanna Kementári,” Bella managed to say despite her own astonishment.

 

Everybody in the room froze at that revelation regardless of whether they were sitting at the breakfast table or attempting to wrestle on a pair of pants. Gimli falling over, his legs tangled up, would have been highly comical in any other situation but this.

 

“Um…” Ori bit his lip, “What does _that_ mean?”

 

“It means that Thorin and I are going to have a baby.”

 

Nori choked around a mouthful of oatcake, forcing Bofur to pound on his back hard.

 

“I’m confused,” Thorin admitted after a very, very long moment of stunned silence, “I thought that you said that you couldn’t have children, that you were… well, barren, _Ghivashel_.”

 

“I am,” Bella agreed, and for the first time that harsh truth does not bring sadness to her countenance, instead she smiled “But I meant that we are going to have a child in the _other_ way.”

 

“Other way?” Fíli asked, “What other way?”

 

“I suppose it makes sense that you wouldn’t know of it,” Bella said thoughtfully, “After all, it is _technically_ meant to be a secret, but a great many people of other races have alluded to it so often that I assumed that they actually knew.”

 

“Knew what?” Bombur inquired from the doorway to the kitchen, a platter of over-easy eggs in his hands.

 

Bella smiled at them all, “You lived in Ered Luin. Didn’t you ever hear anyone talk about Hobbits being grown in gardens of some sort?”

 

“Well, yeah,” Kíli said, “But they were just joking…” Kíli trailed off and then his eyes widened considerably, “Wait, are you saying that Hobbits really _are_ grown in cabbage patches?”

 

“Not normally, and not in cabbage patches either,” Bella illuminated, “But sometimes, on very rare occasions, Yavanna’s flowers will bloom on the wrist of a Hobbit. It means that he or she will be able to create a very special type of seed with the help of their spouse which will, after about twelve weeks’ time, blossom into children.”

 

“Are you sure?” Dís questioned incredulously, “Because that sounds a mite bit insane, growing children like crops.”

 

“Yes, I’m sure,” Bella huffed, “I do think I know a tad more about Hobbit magic than anyone else in this room, or the entire kingdom of Erebor for that matter.”

 

“It’s not that mad sounding,” Ori defended his sister, “We dwarves have our secret lore as well. It has happened on a few occasions in our history that Mahal blessed certain dwarves with the ability to carve children out of stone. It hasn’t happened for many centuries, but it still occurred.”

 

“Elves can sometimes sing a child into being by using our voices to manipulate the light of the sun, moon, or stars,” Tauriel added, “Although only the wisest and most powerful are usually capable of such a feat.”

 

“Zigrel,” Bifur murmured in Khuzdûl.

 

“Bella,” Thorin’s voice had a hint of urgency in it, “I need to speak to you about this… alone… _now_.”

 

He didn’t wait for her to answer, putting an arm around her waist and pulling her swiftly into the gold and green bedroom that she never actually used anymore.

 

“What was that about?” Bella demanded.

 

“This is truly happening?” Thorin asked without preamble, “Yavanna has truly granted us this blessing?”

 

“I wouldn’t lie to you, Thorin, especially about something like this,” Bella answered.

 

Thorin kissed her then, pulling her body so close to his own that nothing could pass between them.

 

“I take it that you’re pleased with this new development, _Yâsûnuh_ ,” Bella said in a bit of a daze after the passionate kiss came to an end.

 

“You amaze me more with each day that passes, _Â_ zyungel,” Thorin told her, nuzzling her button nose with his larger one.

 

“I _knew_ you greatly desired children.”

 

“I do want children, but only if they are given to me by you,” Thorin asserted firmly, “You, mizimuh, are my heart of hearts, sankurdûh, _zâyung_ zu.

 

 _“Zâyung_ zu, Khaeluh,” Bella kissed his nose.

 

Thorin stiffened a few moments later.

 

“Thorin? What’s wrong?” Bella could feel tension rolling off of her husband in waves.

 

“There is a… danger in deciding to do this,” Thorin admitted.

 

“As long as evil exists in this world, there will be danger,” Bella reasoned, “But by choosing to accept this gift we can bring forth lukhudel to chase away the shadows and the monsters that lurk within them.”

 

“You are right, Ghivashel” Thorin responded, relaxing marginally.

 

“I usually am,” Bella teased, “Now, I do believe the big question is: where are we going to grow our future offspring?”

 

“ _Melhekhinhaz Buzn?” Thorin suggested._

_“It’s our_ _garden,” Bella said with a fond smile, “And yes, that will be the perfect place. It gets plenty of sunshine and rain, not to mention it is one of the safest places in Erebor simply because very few know that it even exists.”_

_“Then that is where we shall plant the seed.”_

 

**(+)**

 

“Why wasn’t Mahal the one to grant this blessing?” Dís asked a few minutes after Thorin had all but carried Bella back into the Queen’s bedroom.

 

“The Valar work in mysterious ways,” Balin reminded them all, “Besides, Bella is a Hobbit. Yavanna had just as much right to provide this gift as Mahal.”

 

“I do not doubt that, cousin,” Dís said quietly, “What I fear, Balin, is how certain members of the nobility are going to respond to this new development. If Thorin and Bella choose to have children this way, the backlash from those who already resent Bella being here could be terrible.”

 

“Those naysayers will keep their mouths shut if they want to keep their tongues where they are,” Dwalin growled.

 

“Durin himself took a queen from lands’ afar,” Nori spoke up, “And what records we have prove that she was almost certainly one of Yavanna’s children. Definitely _not_ a dwarrowdam at any rate.”

 

“Yavanna is the wife of our Adadel and she is our Amadel. To reject such a gift from her is just the same as rejecting the will of Mahal. Remind the nobility of that if they start to murmur against our King and Queen,” Bofur said.

 

“And if they do more than just mutter?” Dori worried, “What if they do not listen to reason and attempt to harm the little one?”

 

“I’ll kill them if they so much as breathe wrong in his or her direction,” Glóin swore, hefting his axe onto his shoulder for emphasis.

 

“Aye!” Nearly the entire company, Dís, Gimli, and Gala agreed.

 

Kíli looked at Tauriel, who had remained silent.

 

“I wouldn’t kill them,” she said with a shrug as she examined one of her throwing knives, “I plan on doing something much, _much_ worse. If several barrels of hot oil go missing from the battlements, you shouldn’t be alarmed.”

 

“ _Âzyunguh ana zu tursiki uhrus magh Mahalul gabil khubûb_ , Sangimlilukhuduh,” Kíli murmured in awe.

 

“ _Mâ akhùthuzhur zurkur ze,_ Sanûlukhlukhuduh,” Tauriel answered.

 

“Do you two have to be so sappy in front of other people?” Fíli demanded.

 

“You’ve thought her Khuzdûl?” Dís asked weakly, “Oh, who am I kidding, of course you have.”

 

“Thorin said I could, amad,” Kíli protested his mother’s tone.

 

“Of course I did,” Thorin chimed in, making everyone turn to see their King and Queen hovering in the bedroom doorway, “Tauriel is your betrothed, and she needs to know how to speak our language.”

 

Dís frowned but didn’t argue with her older brother’s assertion.

 

“So?” Óin asked hopefully, “Are we going to be hearing little feet any time soon?”

 

Bella nodded with a bright smile adorning her face as Thorin wrapped a possessive arm around her shoulders.

 

Whoops of joy filled he air.

 

“This calls for a celebration feast!” Glóin decided, “And lots of ale!”

 

“We’re going to have a baby cousin, Fee!” Kíli cheered.

 

“Cousins,” Bella corrected, “A seed from Yavanna blooms seven times, usually with a year or two in between each blossoming.”

 

Bella hadn’t thought that it was possible for the others to become any more excited. She was wrong.

 

“Did you all hear that? There are going to be seven hobbity dwarflings!” Bofur exclaimed.

 

“Or is the correct term dwarfish hobbitlings?” Fíli mused

 

“Fauntlings,” Bella informed them all, “Hobbits usually call our little ones fauntlings or just faunts.”

 

“Shuluk _khuzdinh kunjâlmazâm!” Bifur declared._

 

“Ha, ha,” Bella said to him, “Very funny, Bifur.”

 

“I’ve got an even better word!” Kíli crowed, jumping up and down.

 

“And what’s that?” Thorin asked in amusement.

 

“Dwobbits!”

 

“You made that up just now, didn’t you?” Dís accused.

 

“No,” Tauriel disagreed with a mock-sigh, “He made it up months ago, on the same night he came up with the word, Dwelf.”

 

“Shall I make an official announcement, Thorin?” Balin inquired.

 

“Not yet,” Thorin shook his head, “We need to be sure that the seed will take in such foreign soil first.”

 

“Course it will,” Nori assured.

 

“Nonetheless,” Thorin decided, “Give us a few weeks before you start shouting the good news from the battlements.”

 

**(+)**

 

The very next morning found Bella and Thorin on their Secret Terrace, discussing what needed to be done in order to bring a Dwobbit, because the word really _was_ catchy, into the world.

 

“Jewels?” Thorin asked as he watched his wife flutter around their garden, choosing a startlingly colorful array of blossoms that she planned to weave together in order to create the bed that their seed was supposed to rest on.

 

“Yes,” Bella confirmed as she examined the lavender blooms with far more dedication than Thorin thought was healthy, “Small ones, mind. Hobbits don’t typically create the seed’s pallet out of anything but plants, but our children are half-dwarf so… we need gemstones to tuck between the gaps in the flowers. Little jewels of as many colors that you can find and maybe some tiny chips of gold and silver.”

 

“Right, I can do that,” Thorin said without much confidence, “Only… what if I don’t choose the right ones? This is clearly extremely important. What if I mess this up? What if I pick the wrong gems and our child ends up crazy or ill or…,” Thorin swallowed hard, “ _Dying_ , because of I made the wrong choice.”

 

Bella looked up at him in surprise, “Oh, _Thorin_ ,” she placed her flowers to the side, stood and cupped his face in her petite hands, “Kurd _û_ h, that’s not going to happen. The seed bed is a tradition more than anything else; it doesn’t really have much of an impact at all on the children that grow from the seed. Now, why don’t you tell me what really brought this sudden lack of confidence on?”

 

“There is nothing in this earth that can ever cause me to forget my actions when I was under the haze of gold-lust,” Thorin whispered, “I _hurt_ you and you may have forgiven me, but I shall _never_ forgive myself. What if I can’t control the sickness if it comes upon me again, what if I harm our child?”

 

“If I even suspect that the madness might be returning, I shall hit you over the head with a frying pan,” Bella promised, “After all, a knock in the head worked once.”

 

“What if I’m a terrible father?”

 

“Boys, do come out and explain to Thorin why he doesn’t need to worry about such a thing,” Bella called over in the direction of her blueberry bushes.

 

Thorin turned to see his nephews sheepishly crawling out from behind them, having evidently been snooping around for a chance to see how a Dwobbit baby was grown. They also had apparently been enjoying the first of the berries as their mouths and fingers were lined with purple juice.

 

Thorin raised an eyebrow, “Boys?”

 

“We were curious,” Fíli defended.

 

Bella cleared her throat and gave her brothers a significant look.

 

“You don’t need to worry, Uncle,” Fíli quickly said, “You practically raised Kee and me and we’re still alive and healthy and relatively sane.”

 

“Yeah,” Kíli agreed, “So you just need to do everything you did last time over again. Except, maybe you shouldn’t try to teach the baby to swim by throwing them into a river. It didn’t go so well the last time you did that, and this baby will be a Dwobbit whose mother is an abysmal swimmer in the first place.”

 

Fíli hit his younger brother over the head, “Not helpful, Kee.”

 

Bella rolled her eyes.

 

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Balin?” Thorin remembered, “To discuss the importance of tariffs?”

 

“Um… no,” Fíli tried.

 

“Scoot, both of you,” Thorin ordered.

 

“But we want to see you plant our baby cousins,” Kíli protested sadly.

 

“Then you ought not have made so much noise that it was impossible for me _not_ to catch you,” Bella replied, “You two eat much too loudly.”

 

Fíli and Kíli pouted but trudged back inside the Mountain.

 

“See, you already are the perfect father with two sons who worship the ground you walk on. Now, go,” Bella shooed, “You have a job to do.”

 

**(+)**

 

“I’ve got the gems, Ghivashel,” Thorin announced upon his return two hours after lunch.

 

“I was beginning to worry that you had gotten lost,” Bella teased him, “It’s after midday.”

 

“I had to make sure the stones I chose were flawless,” Thorin defended, “And that took time. Here,” He held his hand out to her so that she could see what jewels he had ardently picked out.

 

In Thorin’s outstretched palm were over a dozen chips of gold and silver and a lovely mix of miniature emeralds, rubies, topaz, sapphires, amethyst, diamonds, opals, and…

 

“Are those pearls?” Bella asked in astonishment.

 

“Yes,” Thorin answered, as if throwing two of the extremely rare and precious orbs was no big deal at all.

 

“Alright then,” Bella said, taking her cues from her husband’s nonchalant attitude in regards to burying such treasures, “Let me see them.”

 

One by one, Bella wove the gems into the flowers until finally she was finished. The end result was a thick braided circular pallet of soft petals and glittering jewels with a middle that dipped down just slightly, a perfect cradle for their seed.

 

“Now what do we do?” Thorin asked, marveling at the small bed that Bella had managed to weave.

 

“I dig a hole,” Bella said, picking up her small golden trowel, “I place the pallet at the bottom and then, then we create the seed.”

 

“How do we do this?” Thorin inquired once the bed of flowers and gems had been tucked down into the six-inch deep hole and he was kneeling before her, his knees touching hers.

 

Bella cupped her hands together, “Put your hands around mine.”

 

He obeyed and then began to feel a strange tingling in his palms and fingers not a minute later, “What is that?”

 

“Open your hands and you’ll see,” Bél smiled.

 

Together, they cracked their hands back open and Thorin inhaled sharply as he caught sight of the most beautiful gem he had ever seen, nestled in his wife’s hold like a pearl sat in an oyster. The seed was red-gold with swirling streaks the color of mithril. It wasn’t a perfect orb; instead it had the appearance of two halves of a sphere having been pressed so tightly together that the middle began to point outward. Almost like a walnut but smoother and with a glassy sheen.

 

“Ghivashel,” Thorin said in wonder, “It’s _beautiful_.”

 

“It is,” Bella agreed, before moving over to the hole. With all due reverence, she set the seed down into it and atop the pallet.

 

Together Bella and Thorin covered the seed ever-so-carefully with soil until it was completely hidden away. Once the finished, Bella gave the top of the mound a soft peck.

 

“Now comes the hardest part,” Bella admitted, “Waiting.”

 

Thorin pulled her into his lap and kissed her soundly. A moment later he looked back at where they had planted their gorgeous seed, “Bella!”

 

Bella twisted around to see that a goldish-green had already sprouted up, forming a protective circle around the small mound, “It’s working,” she said in delight, leaning back against Thorin’s chest, “When the vines turn a light blue, it means that the flower is about to come up. That should happen in about two months.”

 

“What color will the flower be?” Thorin asked.

 

“It depends.”

 

“On what?”

 

“On whether our fauntling is a boy or girl,” Bella raised her right wrist so that Thorin could see it, “The seven lilies on my wrist are both gold and silver; that is Yavanna’s way of telling us that we’ll eventually have both boys and girls. If they were all gold, we’d be having all boys, and if they were all silver, we’d be having all girls. There are five gold flowers and two silver, see? That means that while we will have more than one daughter, we will mostly have sons.”

 

Thorin felt remarkable giddy at that revelation, “You are astounding, mizimuh.”

_Please note that my grammar may not be perfect, I am still very much learning how to use this beautiful language, but here are the translations for the Khuzd_ _û_ _l words and phrases I used:_

 

  *          _Muhudtuzakhmerag_ \- Spring Festival
  *          _Namad_ \- Sister
  *          _Nudûduh_ \- My Brothers
  *          _Mekeb-farak_ \- South Library
  *          _Mekeb-faham_ \- North Library
  *          _Mekebel_ \- Great Library
  *          _Ughvashâ_ \- Greatest Treasure
  *          _Sanâzyung_ \- Perfect Love
  * _Kurdu_ _Mizim ‘Abadaz_ _\- Heart Jewel of the Mountain_
  *          _Mahzâyung_ \- Make Love to Me
  *          _Zigrel_ \- Great Magic
  *          _Ghivashel_ \- Treasure of all Treasures; Beloved
  *          _Yâsûnuh_ _\- My Husband_
  *          _Â_ zyungel- Love of all Loves
  *          _Mizim_ \- Jewel
  *          _Mizimuh_ \- My Jewel
  *          _S_ _ankurdûh_ – My Perfect Heart
  *          _Zâyung_ _Zu_ \- I Love You
  *          _Khaeluh_ \- My Wolf
  *          _Lukhudel_ \- Great Light
  *          _Melhekhinhaz Buzn_ _\- The Queen’s Garden_
  *          _Adadel_ \- Great Father; Father of All Fathers
  *          _Amadel_ \- Great Mother; Mother of All Mothers
  *          _Âzyunguh ana zu tursiki uhrus magh Mahalul gabil khubûb_ _\- My love for you burns hotter than Mahal’s great forges._
  *          _Sangimlilukhuduh_ \- My Perfect Starlight
  *          _Mâ akhùthuzhur zurkur ze_ _\- We will be forever as one._
  *          _Sanûlukhlukhuduh_ \- My Perfect Moonlight
  * _Shuluk_ _khuzdinh kunjâlmazâm_ _\- Baby Bunnies_



 

Interesting note: Google Völuspá, seriously, J


	2. Part Two

**_Flowers of Yavanna_ **

 

_Yavanna’s blessing upon Bella and her dwarrows becomes common knowledge. Some take it better than others. Warning: Gratuitous use of Khuzdûl. Translations provided at end of the story. Also my friend made me a banner for this story. I posted it as an extra for the series.  
_

 

 

Thorin and Bella decided to wait until after Muhudtuzakhmerag had ended before they revealed to the Lower Council, (and subsequently the rest of Erebor, because Lady Oddvá had not been able to keep a secret to safe her life once she hit the two-hundred and seventy mark), that they were going to be parents.

 

“This is incredible,” Lord Kril responded in a sharp tone, “Surely you don’t expect us to believe such a preposterous notion!”

 

“Lies!” Lord Kálvur barked in disrespect, still very sore at having been forced to spend two whole weeks in the dungeons, “No doubt this deception has been created by the _Halfling_ who dares to call herself our Queen. What other absurd stories has she filled your head with, oh King, to get you to marry her?”

 

“Ridiculous,” Lady Duruta muttered while her younger sister, the Lady Durita nodded in agreement.

 

“Now, now,” Lord Móin spoke up, “Let’s not be so hasty to dismiss this news as untrue.”

 

“There are many things that we do not know about our cousins from the Kindly West,” Lord Bróin added in interjection.

 

“I know enough to be sure that this is a terrible lie!” Kálvur retorted, “One conceived because we have already expressed our concerns over our King being childless thanks to _her_.”

 

“If you wish to keep your tongue, Kálvur,” Dwalin growled out, “You will hold it! Remember your place and whom you dare to call a liar.”

 

The Lower Council silenced immediately and looked toward its King and his Queen, and was startled to realize that the latter was _sitting_ on the former to keep Thorin from attacking anyone.

 

Just in time in appeared. Thorin already had Orcrist drawn.

 

“If this is true, then she is a witch!” Kálvur insisted to them all, “A witch or a liar. Either way, she has no place here in this Kingdom!”

 

“Escort him to the dungeons now!” Thorin ordered the pair of guards in the room, who immediately seized hold of Kálvur, as he stood threateningly, lifting Bella up at the same time, “He’ll spend three weeks inside a cell this time.”

 

“Thorin, put me down,” Bella squeaked.

 

“This is your final warning Kálvur,” Thorin vowed, ignoring her, “If you speak so disrespectfully of your Queen again I will have your tongue and your beard.”

 

Sóir and Han dragged a cursing Kálvur from the room.

 

“I know this may be a bit hard for you to just accept,” Bella soothed, trying to defuse the tension in the chamber from her rather ridiculous position in Thorin’s arms, “This is a blessing that few outside the Shire know anything about and fewer still have ever been witness to it. But in three months time, there _will_ be a baby prince or princess in Erebor.”

 

“And we’re just supposed to believe that the child will be Thorin’s as well as yours,” Lady Durita spoke, “If you’re… creating a baby by… well, how could the child be anything be completely Hobbit?”

 

“How would you like to join Kálvur in the dungeons?” Dís challenged.

 

“It’s a serious concern, Princess Dís,” Lady Duruta said, placing a restraining hand on her younger sister’s arm.

 

“You don’t need to worry about that, because this has happened before,” Ori chimed in, making everyone turn his attention to him, “I’ve found evidence of such in the Great Library. There’s a scroll that speaks of a union between a Dwarrow and a Hobbit that resulted in children being grown, and it’s written that they took on their father’s traits as much as they did their mother’s.”

 

That was news to Bella, and apparently everybody else as well.

 

“Where are you going to be… um, growing the baby, Milady?” Lady Blini asked tentatively a moment later.

 

“Well…”

 

“In a safe place within this Kingdom,” Thorin said for Bella, “That is all that will be divulged on the subject.”

 

Lady Blini and the others seemed to accept that decision.

 

“Well I think this is wonderful,” Lady Oddvá declared, thumping her silver cane against the ground for emphasis.

 

Since none of the other members of the Lower Council would dare argue with such a revered elder, at least not in public, that was all that was said on the matter.

 

**(+)**

 

“That could have gone better,” Bella sighed once the family had reconvened in the North Library under Thorin’s direction.

 

Bifur signed something quickly in Iglishmêk.

 

“Aye,” Dwalin agreed, “I would have liked to do that too.”

 

“Don’t see why we can’t still,” Glóin muttered, “Bastard deserves it.”

 

“I don’t know what you all are so riled up about,” Óin told them, “I couldn’t hear a damn thing.”

 

Bifur provided him a brief summary with fast hand gestures.

 

“Humph,” Óin glared, “Well then I agree.”

 

“When did you find evidence of a Dwobbit existing before now?” Kíli asked Ori, catching everybody’s attention.

 

“Yesterday,” Ori revealed, “I found a scroll written in Greentongue… by Durin the First.”

 

The collective gasp that rang out was more than a bit amusing.

 

“You’re sure, Ori?” Thorin inquired urgently.

 

“Yes,” Ori nodded, “It had his person Secret Seal and the Bayur Barufzurkkurosh of Durin.”

 

“Durin wrote about Hobbit reproduction habits in his spare time?” Bofur questioned with a tilted head, “That seems a bit… odd.”

 

“Not odd once it became clear that his wife was a Hobbit,” Ori explained, “According to the scroll, her name was Queen Rhoswen.”

 

The collective gasp was much louder this time and several sets of eyes bugged.

 

“So it _is_ true,” Balin breathed, “What we have long suspected.”

 

“Durin’s wife was a Hobbit,” Bombur said gleefully.

 

“But that doesn’t explain why he would have written about Yavanna’s flowers,” Fíli reminded, “Durin’s firstborn was carved from living stone.”

 

“Yes,” Ori agreed, “But his other six sons and his daughter were not. They were grown. In fact, according to Durin, his younger children were the first to be given life in such a manner.”

 

“That’s very possible,” Bella spoke, “In the Shire we know that the first blessing Yavanna bestowed was upon a couple of mixed race, but nobody knows who they were or what species the non-Hobbit was. Such knowledge has been lost to time.”

 

“Perhaps not lost after all,” Thorin remarked.

 

**(+)**

 

“This cannot be allowed to continue!” a voice raved, “I’m sick of being locked up because of that whore!”

 

“Quiet!” a second person hissed, “Those blasted Shadow Shields could hear you. If that happens, we’ll all be dead.”

 

“She needs to go,” the first voice insisted, “She’s a poison to this kingdom, and a poison to our King.”

 

“Well, then,” a tone much lighter and almost musical rang out, “We’ll just have to remove her.”

 

“Kill her?”

 

“We have no choice!” voice number one declared.

 

“How shall we do it?” the second person asked after only a brief moment of hesitation.

 

“It must be public,” the musical tone decided, stressing her next words, “ _Very public_. I seriously doubt even her disgusting magic can protect her from a blow to the heart.”

 

“I see what you’re getting at,” the second voice said, “But what if that should fail?”

 

“Then my loyal spy will take care of Plan B, won’t you my dear?” the musical one inquired confidently.

 

“Of course mistress,” a fourth person spoke up from a corner.

 

“Excellent!” the first voice nearly crowed, “And once she’s gone, the King’s mind shall be ours.”

 

“Just like it should be.”

 

**(+)**

 

“Why do we have to tell Thranduil?” Thorin demanded indignantly a little over a month and a half later, around the middle of May, a few days before the Festival of Ale was due to take place. Dwarves, to Bella’s everlasting amusement, had a festival of some sort nearly every month in the year, which were mostly just excuses to roaring drunk and make grand (slurred) speeches.

 

“Because it’s good manners, Thorin,” Bella explained calmly, finishing her letter off with a flourish of green ink underneath her signature, “Don’t be so grumpy, I’m sending official announcements to Gandalf, Lord Elrond, and King Bard as well.”

 

“Because _that’s_ supposed to make me feel happy?”

 

Bella turned her gaze to the vaulted ceiling in her study in exasperation.

 

“If Thark _û_ n shows up, Dís might kill him,” Thorin warned, “She’s still angry at him for convincing me to risk my life and those of her sons by marching on Erebor in the first place.”

 

“He was barely involved,” Bella said, “All he did was give you a nudge out the door. You were set on reclaiming this kingdom anyway.”

 

“Dís still blames him, especially when she learned that he left us to our own devices quite a number of times.”

 

“To help us sneak out of Rivendell and then to drive Sauron out of Dol Guldur,” Bél stated, “It’s not like he abandoned us to spoke pipe weed and play Conkers.”

 

Thorin shrugged rather helplessly in response.

 

“Oh well,” Bella said, “If Gandalf shows up I’m sure that I can keep them separated somehow. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to post these letters.”

 

“I can take them,” Thorin offered in a seemingly magnanimous way.

 

“Nice try,” Bella replied, “But you’ll get two steps out of this room with these and them you’ll toss them in the fireplace.”

 

“I don’t see why all of those weed-eaters need to know,” Thorin pouted.

 

Bella pursed her lips and glared pointedly.

 

“Tauriel doesn’t count,” he dismissed, “She’s part of the Company.”

 

“She’s also Thranduil’s niece,” Bella reminded.

 

“Well none of us can help who we’re related to.”

 

Bella just shook her head, “How altruistic of you to say so. I’ll see you tonight; I’m meeting Dori for tea to discuss the idea of importing silks from Dol Amroth.”

 

**(+)**

 

Thorin walked out into the lush garden that seemed to grow ever more beautiful with each passing day. Bella insisted that the presence of the child growing within it was causing the plants to rejoice and bloom in excess. Thorin found that to be an incredibly romantic, but unlikely to be true, notion. However, since he had no real experience with plants, or green things in general, he was forced to accept it.

 

A quick glance around helped him to locate his wife. Bella was kneeling beside their circular vine, which was now light blue in color, and was singing softly to it.

 

“ _I looked to the east 'twas, A sunrise in shrouds_ ,

_I looked to the west there, Was nothing but clouds;_

_In aching and sorrow, Hope had lost her employ,_

_She had grief for the morrow, But no day for joy._

_Here a sun burst a cloud where I looked for a shower_ ;

_Here a spot that seemed desert, Discovered a flower;_

_Endowed in youth's glory, Both blossom and stem_

_Was the model of beauty, And I worshiped the gem._

_For my heart it was neuter, To form_ _and disguise_

_Nor like a freebooter I looked on the prize;_

_But with heart that felt friendless, And wanted a friend,_

_On a way that seemed endless, And now met an end._

_I loved it and proved it, And down to this hour_

_I ne'er saw the beauty I found in that flower;_

_Summer lived in its blossom, The winter was by,_

_Joy laughed on its bosom, Though winter was nigh._

_A palace without it, A prison would be_

_And the cottage that owned it, Was a palace to me;_

_My heart it was weary, I sued as a guest,_

_Love was all that could cheer me, And there I had rest.”_

“Bella?” Thorin spoke up as the song came to an end, smiling softly at his queen when she looked up at him, “That was beautiful.”

 

Bella blushed, “It’s an old Shire song that my mother taught me when I was very young. The blooming will be very soon now.”

 

“I’m sorry to have to steal you away, but Dori is looking for you, Mizimuh. He said that it is time for you to get dressed for the feast tonight.”

 

“I don’t know why he insists on me wearing such finery as what he has no doubt designed for me,” Bella pouted as she stood, “Everybody is going to be far too drunk to pay much notice to my clothes tonight. It’s not called the ‘Festival of Ale’ for no reason.”

 

“Not everyone will be drunk,” Thorin disagreed, “Some of the guards aren’t going to be drinking this evening.”

 

Bella snorted lightly, “Just because they’re not _supposed_ to be drinking doesn’t mean they _won’t_ be,” she kissed Thorin’s cheek, “I’ll see you later, _Melhekhuh.”_

_“I look forward to it, Melhekhinhuh,” Thorin replied fingering her marriage braid briefly._

**(+)**

Bella had been right in making her earlier assumption that Dori would completely overdo her costume for the festival.

 

It was made of thick, soft dark green velvet and sported a square neckline. The hems and cuffs were comprised of a golden silk that was also woven into a complex braid to encircle her waist. The top most layer was studded with emeralds and dripping with hundreds of pearls, which she had nearly choked upon seeing. The gems were attached in whorls that covered nearly the entire gown. A golden cape was attached to the shoulders of the dress and trailed a good foot behind her when she walked and she wore medium-length gold gloves to match.

 

Because this was an eve of great celebration, the jewelry she had to wear was far more elaborate than what was expected of Erebor’s Queen at a normal feast. An emerald hair net was woven into her hair and atop of her head was a new mithril diadem set with large pearls and tiny emeralds.

 

“You look like a dream,” Dori sighed in delight once she was fully dressed.

 

Bella thought she looked slightly ridiculous in the heavy plush layers, especially considering that it was _summertime_. She would probably only get an hour or two before she passed out from heatstroke. She didn’t understand why Dori could wear lightweight clothes, but she had to be stuck in heavy robes of velvet. There was certainly no way she could express such musings to her brother though.

 

“The dress is magnificent, Dori,” Bella told him instead, “Just like all of the gowns you design.”

 

Dori visibly preened at the compliment before crying out, “The festival is getting ready to begin! You’d better make your way down to the Emnith Emùzel. I’ll be behind you in just a few minutes.”

 

He shooed her out into the hallways where a few guards were milling around, obviously trying to pretend that they weren’t there to escort her safely to the festival. Since most dwarves lacked any kind of subtlety at all, their acting skills were predictably a miserable failure.

Bella raised an eyebrow at them, causing the bunch to look anywhere _but_ at her, and then she smirked, “Come along then. It wouldn’t do to be late.”

 

The guards seemed extremely relieved that she hadn’t pitched a fit about their presence.

 

“I’ll be having words with my husband later.”

 

The guards looked significantly less relieved.

 

Bella led them through a maze of hallways until she reached the large doors that marked the entrance of the room she had been aiming for. Two large dwarrows stood near them and immediately pushed them open when they saw her walking toward them. This she was grateful for because, even though she normally hated being treated like she wasn’t capable of doing things for herself, there was no way she would have been able to even crack those heavy doors an inch.

 

Taking a deep breath, Bella entered, grateful that only those she knew very well would get to witness her entrance. The Lower Council would enter next, followed by the rest of the nobility, and then the commoners would begin trickling in.  


Like most of the festivals, this celebration was to be held in a spacious chamber deep within the mountain; the perfect place for a large revelry to take place. The main difference was that at this particular party the feast didn’t focus on food, although there was certainly plenty of it, but on alcohol. Giant kegs lined the walls, filled with every sort of ale, mead, and wine available. This festival was basically an excuse for everyone to get completely soused for an entire night and then miss work the following day.

 

To Bella’s great surprise, the room was remarkably cool. Even all the very appreciative stares in her direction from her family failed to bring a flush to her cheeks.

 

“The pipes in the walls finally got fixed,” Nori said as he and Bofur popped up out of nowhere, correctly guessing her thoughts, “They run ice water around the entirety of this chamber, keeping the heat away.”

 

“Clever,” Bella commented, “A system like that must be complex.”

 

“It is,” Bofur agreed, “That’s why it took so long to fix them. Bless me, Bél, Dori certainly outdid himself this time, didn’t he?”

 

Nori snickered, “Is that what we’re calling it?”

 

“Oh, hush, Nori,” Bofur chided, “Bél looks lovely.”

 

Bella and Nori set him matching looks of skepticism.

 

“Anyway,” Bofur said hastily, “Has the flower bloomed yet?”

 

“Not yet,” Bella said, “But it’ll be soon.”

 

“Theoretically, if there was a betting pool set up about what the gender is going to be,” Nori said, “How upset would you be?”

 

“I’m going to kill Glóin,” Bella remarked, “And if I find out you’re involved, I’ll kill you too, Nori.”

 

“I haven’t,” he assured, “I’ve been far too busy with Shield business. Besides, I know better than to make any sort of wager involving you, sister dear, as you have the remarkable habit of defying all reasonable expectations.”

 

“Come on,” Bofur urged, “The others are waiting for us,”

 

**(+)**

 

Two hours later, the party was in full swing, and most of Bella’s brothers were already quite inebriated. Bella herself had only had a single glass of wine, having taken it upon herself to ensure that no one in her family ended up doing something completely idiotic while they were intoxicated.

 

So far this had proved to be a full-time job and had included stopping Fíli from stripping off all of his clothes to swim in one of the punch bowls. This helped distract her from the fact that many seemed to be viewing her as some sort of exotic trophy that their King had won. (She despised dressing in so fantastic a fashion for this very reason.)

 

After steering Óin away from some smoking some questionable type of plant that must have been smuggled in and to his younger brother’s care, Bél confronted Glóin, who was on his thirteenth mug of honey mead.

 

“You’re going to be incredibly sick tomorrow,” Bella crossed her arms, “So, a betting pool?”

 

“It’s a great way to unite the people,” Glóin defended with a slight slur, “Get them excited about the new bairn coming.”

 

Bella shook her head.

 

“Bél!” Kíli shouted into her ear, “Come dance!”

 

Without any chance to protest, Bella found herself being spun around by her brother who was clearly already three sheets to the wind based on the fact that he was swaying terribly. It only took a minute of such treatment before Bella was horribly dizzy.

 

A strong arm suddenly wrapped around her, pulling her out of Kíli’s grasp and away from the dancing.

 

“Need rescuing, my dear Hobbit?” Thorin asked her.

 

Kíli followed them pouting, “Uncle.”

 

“Quit whining and go torment Fíli,” Thorin said, “He’s too drunk to care if you whirl him around.”

 

Kíli’s expression brightened and he bounded off like a puppy to locate his brother.

 

“Thank you,” Bella said once the room had stopped whirling around her, “Did you know that there’s a betting pool set up to gamble on what gender our child will be?”

 

“… No.”

 

“You’re a terrible liar. Especially when you’ve been drinking.”

 

Thorin shrugged, “It’s harmless. Besides, it’s entertaining to listen to the debates. Lord Rombi presented several _interesting_ diagrams to help spread his belief that we’re surely going to have a boy. Then Lord Bombi mooned him in full view of over three dozen other dwarrows.”

 

Bella couldn’t help but giggle, “I suppose he’s positive that we’ll have a girl.”

 

“Yes,” Thorin said, his eyes twinkling with mirth, “He’s quite adamant, in fact.”

 

Bella was about to reply when a flash of something shiny caught her eye and made her turn quickly her head. An arrow was flying in their direction, it’s trajectory clearly an indicator that it was meant to come to a rest by piercing the King’s heart.

 

“Thorin!” Bella shrieked, bodily shoving her husband down, quite grateful at that moment that he was so full of wine and ale, because otherwise such a feat would have been impossible. A sharp, stinging pain ripped through her left shoulder a second later, making her collapse.

 

“Bella!” Thorin cried in shock, pulling her into his arms.

 

“Protect the King and Queen!” someone shouted.

 

“After him!” a second person, who sounded a great deal like Nori, ordered after another moment.

 

“Fetch Óin and the healers!” Thorin thundered, “Now!”

 

“The arrow’s poisoned, Thorin!” Tauriel’s remarkably sober voice seemed to be very far away, even though she was crouched down right next to them and all other noises began to echo, like Bella was in a tunnel, “I need…”

 

But Bella never heard what her kindred sister needed because that was the moment when everything in her world went dark.

 

**(+)**

 

Bella woke to her husband hovering fearfully next to her. A single look around confirmed that she was in the Healing Ward.

 

“ _Umùrad’akaruh,” Thorin whispered, his eyes bright with unshed tears, kneeling down at her side and taking her face in between his hands, “I was so afraid that I had lost you.”_

 

“It’ll take something far fiercer that a silly arrow to take me away from you,” Bella promised, “What happened?”

 

“That ‘silly arrow’ was coated in poison, Bella,” Thorin growled, “With the juice of Shadowlock berries.”

 

Bella blinked, “But that doesn’t make any sense. Dwarves aren’t susceptible to Shadowlock.”

 

“No, we aren’t,” Thorin granted.

 

“Then why would the arrow have been… _oh_ …” Bella trailed off in realization.

 

“Yes, _oh_ ,” Thorin responded, “I wasn’t the intended target. _You_ were, Bella. It’s bad enough that those bastards wanted to kill you; you didn’t need to help them along by jumping willingly into the path of a speeding arrow. If Tauriel hadn’t been here…”

 

“I thought you were in danger,” Bella said, trying to justify her actions, “The arrow would have struck you in the heart, Thorin. Whoever fired it had truly abysmal aim.”

 

“It was Lord Kril,” Thorin illuminated, “He and Lord Kálvur were working together.”

 

“Are they in the dungeons?”

 

“They’re dead,” Thorin said bluntly, “Dís beheaded Kálvur when he desperately tried to attack Fíli, and Kril was killed by Prince Legolas.”

 

“Thranduil’s son?” Bella questioned, clearly confounded, “What was he doing here?”

 

Thorin huffed in amusement, “Evidently the princeling and _Gimli_ have been secretly courting one another for two months. Glóin is all in a tizzy about it, especially since the pair absconded to Dale when Gala started ranting about murdering the elf for despoiling her dear son’s virtue.”

 

“You should write to Thranduil and congratulate him on our families being joined together,” Bella suggested slyly, “It might be enough of a traumatizing shock to give him a heart attack.”

 

Thorin chuckled, “If there’s any hope for that, I should wait until I can impart the good news upon him in person,” then he grew serious again, “There will be no more of you intercepting arrows, even if they are meant for me, especially if they are meant for me.”

 

“Would you not do anything in your power to keep me from harm, Thorin?” Bella asked.

 

“Of course I would!”

 

“Then how can you expect me to not do everything in my power to keep you safe?” Bella inquired sagely.

 

Thorin gave her a scowl of frustration in response and muttered under his breath, “Stubborn Hobbit.”

 

“Can I go back to our chambers now?” Bella asked, ignoring the oh-so-common-on-Thorin expression being directed at her, “I’m tired and I would much rather sleep in our bed than in here.”

 

Thorin sighed, “I’ll go ask Tauriel.”

 

“Why not Óin?”

 

“He passed out drunk a full hour before you got hurt.”

 

“Oh, right,” Bella said, “Dori’s going to be so upset when he realizes that I got blood all over my new dress.”

 

“He’ll be too glad that you’re alive to be angry,” Thorin said staunchly, “The dress can be remade. If you had been lost we would not have been able to breathe new life into you.”

 

**(+)**

 

Having received permission from Tauriel to return her to the royal resting halls, Thorin carried his wife back to their rooms. Once there, Bella decided to check on their seed before she went to sleep, even though it was almost midnight. She waited until Thorin entered his bathroom before she snuck out onto the terrace.

 

Once outside, a gasp escaped her throat and she sunk down to her knees.

 

“You shouldn’t be out here, Ghivashel, you should be resting,” Thorin chided a minute later, having followed her outside upon seeing that the hidden door was ajar, “You had an arrow sticking out of your shoulder not four hours ago.”

 

“Khaeluh, we have flowers,” Bella said with a shaking voice.

 

“Flowers?” Thorin looked around her shoulder to see the trio of blooms that she was sheltering, “ _Mahalul gabil_ bakhuz!”

 

Growing from where they had planted their seed two months earlier were three flowers that certainly hadn’t been there that morning when Bella and Thorin had checked. Shaped much like lilies, two of the blossoms were the color of gleaming golden sunshine and the third was as silvery as the full moon above them.

 

“The flowers’ sprouting underneath the light of a full moon is seen as its own blessing in the Shire,” Bella murmured, “It is said the children of such flowers are sure to be strong and beautiful. It may be just an old wives’ tale, but…” she shrugged.

 

“Two flowers of gold and one of silver,” Thorin paused, “Wait, does that mean…?”

 

“We are having three babies, Thorin,” Bella stroked one of the golden lily-like petals, “Two sons and a daughter.”

 

“La'I,'ala hyadâkhkhajima, zigr armukhakkaraz u abadaz,” Thorin said in awe.

 

Bella smiled, “Let us go and tell the others.”

 

“In the morn, it’s after midnight,” Thorin objected, “Besides, I want to marvel in the majesty of this blessed discovery for a bit longer.”

 

**(+)**

 

“Triplets!” The Company collectively exclaimed the next day at breakfast, most of them nursing terrible hangovers.

 

Óin removed his horn from his ear and checked to make sure that it was clean before turning back to Bella and Thorin, gob smacked.

 

“By my beard,” Dwalin breathed in shock.

 

“Varda’s stars!” Tauriel said, “That’s wonderful!”

 

“You all look like a bunch of fish, the way that you’re gaping so widely,” Bella told them.

 

“There’s no word in Khuzdûl for triplets, lassie,” Balin pointed out, “Make of that what you will.”

 

“Multiple children coming at once are rare for Dwarrows then?” Tauriel asked curiously.

 

“More than just rare,” Bofur answered, “Dwarrowdams never give birth to more than one child at a time.”

 

“The only reason we have a word for twins in Khuzdûl is because on one single occasion, Mahal blessed the line of Durin with two children to be carved of stone at the same time,” Ori added and then brightened considerably, “My scribes and I will get to make up another new word!”

 

“Just make sure it sounds much better than ‘triplets’,” Dwalin instructed his husband, “Such a ridiculous word, it’s got ‘trip’ in it. We simply can’t be using it.”

 

Bella rolled her eyes, “It’s a perfectly respectable word, Dwalin,” Bella froze, “Oh my goodness!”

 

“Ghivashel?” Thorin moved to her side.

 

“The flowers have bloomed,” Bella explained, wringing her hands, “We only have a month before the children get here and we haven’t got _anything_ prepared!”

 

**(+)**

 

Things became hectic after that as the Company, Dís, and nearly everyone else in the Mountain began to rush around to get things ready for the new princes and princess, whose arrival was growing nearer with each passing day. Dori’s Clothweaver’s Guild was working overtime to churn out piles upon piles of beautiful clothing made of luxurious silks and rich satins fit for baby royalty. The only outfits they didn’t assist with were what would be the babies’ first clothes, which Bella insisted on making herself, as was Shire custom.

 

It was one of the very few things that Bél was actually allowed to do as she was very much still recovering from her nearly-fatal shoulder wound. It also had the added benefit of giving Thorin some peace of mind; because he knew that while his darling wife was focused on knitting and sewing and crocheting she wouldn’t be sneaking out of Erebor with her magic ring.

 

The warmest, softest blankets in Middle Earth were shipped in from Lothlorian, courtesy of the Lady Galadriel, to Thorin’s dismay. Gilded cradles, two bedecked with sapphires and one with rubies, were placed in the nursery, which Ori had painted to depict some of the most popular Hobbit and Dwarven fairy stories, as was a stunning rocking chair carved from oak and inlaid with mithril that formed branches, leaves, and blossoms in the wood. A plethora of jeweled silver rattles, pacifiers and bottles found their way into an open chest of silver and sapphire that was set beside the changing table, where soft diapers and bibs were tucked away on its shelf.

 

Also in the room was a trio of rocking horses that Bella had commissioned in Dale. Two were made of silver and one was studded with sapphire while the other studded with emerald gemstones. The third was of gold and decorated ornately with rubies and pearls. Toy figurines of all kinds lined the shelves, made of both wood, (each carved painstakingly from oak, ebony, and cherry wood by Erebor’s two finest toymakers), and metal, (having been lovingly crafted by Dís’ Goldsmiths and Kíli’s Silversmiths before being decorated by Fíli’s finest Jewelers). In one corner of the nursery was a huge pile of beautiful plush animals in every color sitting atop large oaken building blocks that had silver images embossed upon them and in another corner was an assortment of lovely porcelain and cloth dolls.

 

Fíli and Kíli had even gone so far as to embed Glow Crystals into the ceiling of the nursery, in Durin’s crest no less, creating an everlasting nightlight to chase away bad dreams. Bombur spent hours in the kitchens to invent a powdery substance that would turn into the sweetest milk when mixed with hot water. Dwalin and Nori had worked together, (and hadn’t killed one another to Bella’s great pride) to choose a suitable guard for the royal infants. Tauriel had crafted mobiles of cloth flowers and bumblebees carved from yellow topaz to hang over the cradles, which had the added enhancement of elfish enchantments of protection.

 

The nursery itself was a large chamber tucked between the King and Queen’s Suites. Originally designed by Thorin’s great-grandmother, it could be entered from both sets of chambers but only if one whispered a secret word to open the hidden doors, “Kurdu”, much like the Secret Terrace could only be gotten to if one knew that the password was ‘Shathûr’. The room was the perfect place to shelter their new faunts and Thorin had made some modifications to allow natural sunlight to enter the room through the use of a complex mirror system.

 

Bard had sent three dwarf-sized spears tipped with silver and set with glimmering light blue crystals up to Erebor, which had boosted Thorin’s opinion of the man, even if the blades set upon them were no where near as good as what a dwarf (or elf) could craft, and had made Bella frown in disapproval. She had been forced to put her foot down when she learned that her husband wanted to hang axes and sword in their babies’ room. Weapon training could wait until well _after_ their tenth birthday, thank you very much. Beorn showed his joy at his ‘little bunny’ having children by transferring half a dozen of his giant bees into Bella’s care so that the princes and princess could always have fresh honey.

 

Thranduil had also attempted to send gifts to the Mountain, but Thorin had taken one look at the _barrels_ the gifts had been sent in and had nearly declared war on the Elven King. It had taken quite a bit of distracting on Bella’s part to make him forget about his plan of marching on the Woodland Realm. In the aftermath, she had quietly removed the gifts and hidden them in the cellar where she kept her wines and ales.

 

Legolas and Gimli’s gifts were far better received, even considering that Glóin and Gala had plotted to kill the Mirkwood Prince when the three woven wreaths of oaken branches, leaves, and acorns, all lined with gold and enchanted to last forever, were presented by the newly-eloped pair. Fortunately, the Shadow Shields caught wind of the, admittedly poorly planned, contrivance and kept the testy pair far away from the Throne Room when Legolas and Gimli showed back up in Erebor after their honeymoon in Dale. The newlyweds didn’t stay for long, choosing to leave to ‘explore the world’. Bella thought it was a stroke of genius on their part, giving Glóin, Gala, and Thranduil a few years to calm down.

 

Even though everything seemed to be on track, there was still one slight issue that had not yet been worked out, _names_.

 

While their children’s secret names had already been chosen, it was what their everyday names would be that was causing so much of a fuss. Though Bél was certainly grateful that the people of the Mountain had taken to the idea of triplets in the mountain, or Gem _muhûd_ as Ori had named them, with as much aplomb as they normally took to mining their beloved rocks, she was beginning to see why her mother had always insisted that too many cooks in a kitchen could ruin a meal.

 

Every single person in Erebor had an opinion, even those Lords and Ladies who had so disapproved of Bella in the first place, and Thorin seemed to think that it would be a grand idea to hold a type of election in order to decide what the names of their children would be. When Bella, who had been forced to hear names like Viggspori, Oddfríthur, and Drhawga (which sounded much too similar to dragon, thank you very much Bofur) for over a week, discovered this oh so _brilliant_ plan, she had shoved Thorin through the hidden door and outside of the Mountain. She didn’t let him back inside until the following day _and_ only with his promise that he would order everyone to stop coming up with such terrible baby names.

 

After that, the next person who suggested a name, who happened to be Lord Udóin, got thrown in the dungeon for the night. Glóin was extremely pleased at this particular development, despite the fact that he was still brooding over Gimli, because he made quite a bit of money the next morning for having correctly predicted that his little sister would snap in such a manner.

 

“Hell hath no fury like a Hobbit-Lady scorned,” Dwarves throughout Erebor had whispered in awe in response to that.

 

Two days later, Bella and Thorin decided, after much creative debate, what they were going to name their children and refused to tell anybody else what the names they had picked out were.

 

**(+)**

 

“Just because there’s going to be new children in our family doesn’t mean that I’ll love the two of you any less. You’re still my heirs and you have always made me incredibly proud.”

 

“We already know all of this, Idad,” Kíli said looking confused.

 

“I know,” Thorin said, “I just thought that I would remind you.”

 

“Bella’s making you do this, isn’t she?” Fíli guessed.

 

“Yes,” Thorin admitted.

 

“Why?” Kíli questioned.

 

“I’m not really sure, but I’ve learned that it’s best to just do what she says unless I wish to sleep outside of the mountain… again.”

 

“I thought that one of the highlights of having children this way was that Bella wouldn’t become a walking hormonal imbalance,” Fíli said, “She’s been acting… _odd_ , recently.”

 

“As did I,” Thorin sighed, “Evidently that is not the case. Anyway, Bella’s strange behavior is not the point of this conversation.”

 

“There’s a point?” Kíli inquired.

 

**(+)**

 

“A shrine,” Bella said in disbelief, trying to fight away a sudden heat flash, “They want to build me a shrine.”

 

“Yes and a few dozen statues carved from gold and bedecked with jewels. Also they want me to declare a holiday in your name. Völuspá has already composed a fourteen part ballad in your honor,” Thorin told her, “It shall all be completely tasteful, I promise.”

 

“Absolutely not,” she snapped in irritation.

 

“But-”

 

“ _No_ , Thorin.”

 

**(+)**

 

Gandalf arrived, to Dís’ extreme displeasure, only a few days before Bella predicted that the flowers would start to shake, which would signal that the babies were ready to sprout up. It was on that day that everybody realized that something was very wrong.

 

“This is a fine surprise,” Bella remarked upon seeing him.

 

“When I heard the news I simply had to come. Besides, what celebration of new life could possibly be complete without fireworks?”

 

“Quite.”

 

“Triplets, my dear, Bella?” he said next with a smug smile, “And you were once so sure that no good would come from you leaving the Shire.”

 

“Hush, you,” Bella reprimanded without heat, “Should I use the rose oil for their first baths or chamomile?” she asked, holding up a bottle of each in her hands, “Then of course there’s honeycomb and jasmine and apricot and apple blossom and strawberry that I could use, not to mention-”

 

“Perhaps you should use the cinquefoil oil,” Gandalf suggested, interrupting her, “It is traditional, after all, even if the scent is subtle.”

 

“Our cousins are going to smell like flowers,” Kíli said in an aside to Fíli.

 

“Better than them smelling like Lord Sysar,” Fee retorted with a gag at the thought.

 

“That’s true,” Bella replied to Gandalf, “Cinquefoil to bless a beloved child. Alright, but what _am_ I going to make for their first meals? Mother made me vanilla porridge with soft honeyed apples, but Nana Took insists that honey porridge with sweet ham is best while Primula and Drogo prepared spiced banana oatmeal for their little Frodo because everybody says that feeding a babe flavored food early in life will make them more versatile with what types of food they’ll eat without complaining as they grow. The Green Lady knows that I’m going to have a time getting them to even touch green food as it is.”

 

“She’s been like this for the past week,” Fíli explained to Gandalf when the wizard looked over at him in confusion.

 

“Bombur’s made like fifty different types of porridge that we’ve all been forced to try,” Kíli chimed in, “Mind you, that one with the blueberries and honey-glazed strawberries was _really_ good.”

 

“I liked the one with the mashed potatoes and sweet venison,” Fíli said.

 

“Bella, my dear,” Gandalf called to the young Hobbit woman who was still talking, unaware that her audience wasn’t listening, “I am sure that whatever recipe you choose will be the perfect one. There’s no need to fret so much.”

 

“Oh,” and then tears welled up in Bella’s eyes, “I’m going to be a horrible mother!”

 

“Go get Thorin, _now_ ,” Fíli hissed to his brother. Kíli scampered away immediately as Fee moved to embrace Bél, “Dear namad _ith_ , you know that’s not true.”

 

“Yes it is!” Bella cried, “I can’t even pick out what food to give my babies! They’ve not yet graced this world and I’m already messing up!”

 

“Now, now, my dear Bella,” Gandalf tried but was unable to reach her through her sobs.

 

Fortunately, Thorin arrived quickly, having bolted from his weapons room, (where he and Dwalin were secretly planning what type of swords to forge for the triplets’ first birthday), to get to his wife’s side seconds after Kíli burst in with a look of panic on his face.

 

“Bella!” Thorin pulled her away from Fíli and into his own embrace, letting her cry against his chest as he stroked her auburn curls, and then glaring at Gandalf, “What did you do?”

 

Gandalf shot the dwarf a supremely unimpressed look.

 

“It’s not his fault,” Bella choked out, her voice slightly by tears and Thorin’s fur vest, “I’m being stupid.”

 

“I seriously doubt that’s true, Ghivashel,” Thorin said skeptically, “You are an incredibly intelligent individual. After all, not many can claim that they were able to out riddle a dragon.”

 

“But I can’t… I can’t… Thorin, I can’t breathe!”

 

Thorin’s heart stopped as Bella collapsed in his arms, her head lolling back, “Bella!”

 

**(+)**

 

Bella was quickly growing exasperated by the frequency in which she was waking up in the Healing Ward. The difference was that this time Gandalf was the one standing over her.

 

“What time’s it?” Bél slurred, still half-asleep.

 

“One o’clock in the afternoon.” Gandalf responded.

 

“I don’t really want to know what happened, do I?”

 

“You were poisoned,” Gandalf explained as she gingerly sat up, a hint of anger in his voice, “Over the past three and a half weeks, probably since right after the first assassination attempt, someone has been slowly poisoning you with Blightroot. It explains the emotional imbalance the others all noticed, especially the nervous fretting.”

 

“Someone?” Bella inquired, keeping the knowledge that the poison was also most likely to account for the bursts of heat that had been plaguing her to herself.

 

“We don’t yet know who was responsible,” Gandalf admitted, “Thorin is tearing apart the kingdom trying to find out.”

 

“How could this have even happened?” Bella asked, “Most of my meals are communal, and Blightroot would have affected the others too. And how am I even alive? There isn’t an antidote for it, at least not one I’m aware of.”

 

“Your perfumes were all laced with powder from the root. Everyday when you applied one of them to your neck you were unwittingly helping your would-be murderer along,” Gandalf disclosed, “And you survived thanks to the remarkable healing talents of King Thranduil when it became clear that Óin’s, Tauriel’s and even mine weren’t going to be enough. Fortunately, the Elven-King was visiting King Bard in Dale and was willing to lend his aid.”

 

“ _Thranduil_ was in Erebor? Thorin _allowed_ Thranduil to come into Erebor?” to say that Bella was shocked was to say that Mount Doom was an unpleasant spot to go on holiday.

 

“Your husband was quite willing to do whatever was necessary to save you life,” Gandalf said bluntly, “Especially once you began violently convulsing in his arms. You were unconscious for a little over a day, Bella.”

 

Bella flinched, “He’s never going to let me out of sight ever again.”

 

“You are quite correct,” Thorin’s voice made Bella turn toward the doorway, “I have considered leashing our wrists together with a mithril chain to ensure it.”

 

Bella rolled her eyes.

 

“I’m serious,” Thorin defended moving to kneel beside her, “We have no idea who is responsible for this new attack.”

 

“Very few people have access to my chambers,” Bella said, leaning into his touch, “Beyond our family only a few servants can enter them.”

 

“Yes,” Thorin agreed, “There are only six servants who could have been responsible. All of them deny any involvement, of course, and while they are all under heavy surveillance on the part of Nori’s Shadow Shields there is no way that we have yet discovered that can prove which one of them was involved.”

 

“Or ones,” Gandalf suggested, making Thorin grimace.

 

“Hey,” Bella stroked Thorin’s cheek, “I’m alright.”

 

“Your heart stopped for twelve seconds,” Thorin refuted sharply, “That does _not_ qualify as ‘alright’, Yâsithuh.”

 

“I’m alive,” Bella pointed out, “And I feel fine, much better than I have in almost a month. I no longer feel like a moody wreck for one.”

 

“That is a boon,” Thorin said dryly, “I was becoming worried that you might kill me if I chose winter suits for our children in the wrong color.

 

“Did you get to welcome Thranduil into the family?” Bella baited, trying to coax a smile from his grim countenance.

 

Thorin huffed out a laugh, “I was a bit focused on you, love.”

 

“Oh well, perhaps next time.”

 

“There had better _not_ be a next time.”

 

“Bella!” An extremely loud chorus of voices washed over them and Bella found herself at the bottom of a pile of dwarrows.

 

“Get off of her!” Óin demanded, “Turning her into a Hobbit pancake will not be conducive to keeping her healthy.”

 

The rest of the Company, save for Balin and Dori (who were sharing commiserating looks with each other) and Tauriel (who had far too much sense to jump on top of her much smaller sister), sheepishly rose to their feet.

 

“Sorry,” Glóin offered.

 

“We’re just so chuffed that you’re okay,” Bofur said.

 

“We’ve been so worried,” Ori twisted his hands in distress, “We had to get rid of all your perfume and test everything else in your chambers too.”

 

“Never scare us like that again.” Fíli ordered sternly.

 

“Ever,” Kíli added for emphasis.

 

“Don’t worry,” Gandalf spoke up, “I intend on staying within Erebor for as long as it takes to catch the culprit to provide extra protection for our dear Bella.”

 

The younger dwarves cheered, the older ones and Tauriel nodded in approval, and Thorin sighed nearly inaudibly, “Dís is going to kill me for this.”

 

**(+)**

 

That evening, Bella and Thorin decided to take their supper, roasted chicken and fried potatoes that had been tasted for poisons by no less than eight dwarves, on their Secret Terrace.

 

“Kíli keeps on ambushing me,” Thorin remarked, “I think he hopes that if he can catch me off guard I’ll reveal the names we picked out to him.”

 

Bella laughed and then took a sip of her wine, “He’ll find out in a few days at most.”

 

“Yes, well, he’s impatient.”

 

“Well, I do wonder where he gets that from,” Bella quipped, “It couldn’t possibly be a certain willful dwarrow that I’m so very fond of.”

 

Thorin chuckled, “And just imagine, quite soon there will be three more impatient dwarrows running around.”

 

“And I wouldn’t trade that for the world,” Bella assured, leaning over to kiss him soundly.

 

“Do you-” but Thorin never got to finish his query because Bella interrupted him at that moment.

 

“Thorin,” Bella breathed, “ _Look_.”

 

Thorin turned and immediately saw what had caught his wife’s attention. Bathed in the glorious purple, orange, and red rays that marked the beginning of twilight, the first of their trio of flowers had begun to shiver.

 

 

 

 

Khuzd _û_ l Words and Phrases:

 

  *          _Bayur Barufzurkkurosh_ \- Secret Clan Crest
  *          _Thark _û_ n_\- Gandalf’s Dwarven Name
  * _Ghuregbuzramerag _-__ _Festival of Ale_
  * _Melhekhuh_ _\- My King_
  *          _Melhekhinhuh_ \- My Queen
  * _Emnith Emùzel_ \- Cheer Chamber (I didn’t know what else to call it)
  * _Umùrad’akaruh_ _\- My Soulmate (My One)_
  * _Mahalul gabil_ _bakhuz!_ \- Mahal’s Great Hammer!
  * _Kurdûh_ _\- My Heart_
  *          _La'I,_ _'ala hyadâkh_ _khajima, zigr armukhakkaraz u abadaz_ \- Behold, this rare gift, magic of the Shire and of the Mountain
  * _Gem _muhûd__ _\- Three Blessings_
  * _Kurdu _-__ _Heart_
  *          _Shathûr_ \- Clouds
  *          _Idad_ \- Uncle
  *          _Namad _ith__ _\- Little Sister’_
  *          _Yâsithuh_ \- My Wife



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So some back story for you: Tauriel, upon falling madly in love with Kíli, helped Bella to liberate the dwarves from Thranduil’s dungeons and joined them on the rest of their quest, becoming a part of the Company. Since Thorin was courting Bél, a member of another race much like Tauriel, he was forced to keep his mouth shut about the relationship. Tauriel proved her loyalty and her devotion to Kíli in a most ardent fashion, earning her Thorin’s respect, trust, and affection. She is also Thranduil’s niece and Legolas’ cousin. I have no idea what Durin’s Queen was named nor how many children they had, I made this bit up. The song Bella sings is a very old ballad that I found on Google. I’m not sure who wrote it. Please review guys!


	3. Part Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The triplets are slightly more developmentally advanced than normal newborns, a side effect of being grown instead of birthed. They can’t talk, but they have greater control over their bodies and are much more aware of the world around them. Their secret names I got by combining Old Norse and Welsh. Enjoy.

**_Flowers of Yavanna_ **

 

_The Dwobbits are born and dark secrets come to light. Warning: Gratuitous use of Khuzdûl. Translations provided at end of the story. All of the original characters were stolen from a much longer story that I am currently working on, so if you like this you can check them out in that once I finish the first part of that behemoth._

 

**(+)**

 

“Fetch my sister, Princess Dís, and the Company,” Thorin ordered the servant girl who was dusting the room, “Tell them it has begun; they’ll understand what I mean. Instruct them to wait in the Queen’s Sitting Room.”

 

“Don’t rush, Raylís,” Bella added, her arms full of the towels she had picked out weeks ago, “It could take some time yet.”

 

Raylís bowed her head in acknowledgement and then scurried off.

 

“What do we do?” Thorin asked anxiously.

 

“We wait,” Bella briefly, lovingly stroked the shivering flower before settling at her husband’s side, running a hand through his long dark locks to calm him.

 

The sun was already half set when an impossibly tiny hand finally stuck itself out of the soil and waved its fingers in their direction. Thorin moved toward it, his arms outstretched like he planned on digging the faunt out himself.

 

“You mustn’t,” Bella cautioned, placing a restraining hand on his shoulder, “They’re meant to do this part on their own. It could make them sick if we were to help.”

 

Thorin clenched his hands into fists immediately, though Bella could still see the desire to scoop their child into the safety of his arms written plainly on his face.

 

“Come along, fauntling,” Bella cooed a moment later when the babe paused in its upwards wiggling, “Mummy and Daddy are right here waiting for you, dear one.”

 

At the sound of its mother’s voice, the infant gave itself a great shove toward the sky and popped its head out of the ground. Bella and Thorin found themselves staring in wonder at the sight of their eldest son with his thick mop of dark brown hair and light blue-green eyes sparkling in the daylight.

 

“Hello, Frerin,” Bella said with a wide smile.

 

Frerin heaved himself up higher and then lifted his arms up in a demand to be held. Thorin looked at Bella in question and, once she nodded in consent, he lifted him up and cradled him close to his chest.

 

“Welcome to the world, _Mimûn,” Thorin greeted._

 

“He has your nose,” Bella spoke before lightly kissing the tiny feature and caressing Frerin’s little golden cheek.

 

“And your ears,” Thorin added as he trailed a finger over the pointed tip of his newborn son’s right ear, “He’s _perfect_.”

 

Frerin shuddered and tried to curl up closer to his father. Bella quickly grabbed one of the towels, made of plush royal blue cotton, and tucked it around the babe. It warmed him but also made him wrinkle his pale pink mouth in disapproval when he realized that it hindered him from flailing his limbs about.

 

Bella giggled, “Well he’s got that particular expression of yours down pat.”

 

Thorin laughed, far too chuffed at the presence of his son to possibly be offended.

 

“Thorin,” Bella pointed at the second of the golden lilies, which was beginning to tremble, “I do believe Finnian is ready to grace us with an appearance.”

 

Frerin seemed to realize what was happening because he began to coo and gurgle happily.

 

A minute later, Bella was gently rocking her youngest son, who had sprouted just as the sun sank below the horizon and was now swathed in a towel of dark green, in her arms. He had his father’s nose like his elder brother and he also had Thorin’s piercing blue eyes, but his thick hair was the same red-gold as his mother’s.

 

“He’s perfect too,” Thorin declared, his gaze flicking back and forth between the two boys with great speed, unwilling to miss even a second of their actions.

 

After much wriggling, Frerin managed to free his tiny hand from the towel he was swaddled in, grabbed Thorin’s beard, an instinctual action that all little dwarflings (and apparently half-dwarflings) preformed, and tugged at it in consternation. Finnian too made a little sound of distress from his place in Bella’s arms, staring at the remaining silver flower.

 

“Don’t rush your sister, little ones,” Bella soothed, “She’ll come to us when she is good and ready.”

 

“Just like it is with all females of any race, trying to hasten her presence will do no good,” Thorin quipped.

 

The boys looked slightly disgruntled but, after a moment, they settled into their parents’ arms, seemingly content to wait for their sibling.

 

It another three-fourths of an hour before the third and final blossom began to quiver in the warm night air, by which time the boys had fallen asleep and a full moon had risen, setting the new family awash with a silvery light.

 

The new parents straightened in anticipation and waited with bated breath as their daughter began her climb up to the surface.

 

Unlike her brothers, she came all at once, without pause or need of coaxing. Before either really knew it, Thorin and Bella were gazing upon the sight of their newborn princess, drinking her arrival in with glee.

 

Lilli’s dark red hair was as thick at her brothers’, but it fell around her smooth face in tight ringlets. She had a wee button nose, red lips and rosy cheeks. While her brothers’ skin was almost golden, Lilli’s was as pearly white as the moon above them. She opened her eyes a moment later to reveal two orbs of sapphire blue accented with tiny flecks of gold.

 

Bella transferred Finn over to Thorin and then picked up her daughter, wrapping her in the remaining maroon towel. Lilli blinked at them for a moment before smiling widely, her milk teeth gleaming in the moonlight. Lilli let out a cry of delight that woke her elder brothers, who saw her and started babbling happily.

 

“ _Inùdoyuh, Nathithuh,” Thorin spoke after a moment of watching them communicate in some secret, infantile type of speech, “Zâyungi_ mênuyothurnidif _furkh,_ mizim _û_ h halw _.”_

 

“Come on,” Bella nudged him gently, “We need to get our little ones clean of all this dirt.”

 

“I thought Hobbits adored dirt,” Thorin said with a smirk.

 

“We do, but we like being clean even more.”

 

**(*)**

 

The triplets were wary of the warm bathwater until they were actually in it, being held up above the waterline by their parents, but once they realized that they could splash each other by knocking their legs and arms around, they began to giggle in delight.

 

As Bella gently rubbed a washing cloth over Frerin’s shoulder, she realized that there was a strange mark there, one she had earlier mistook for being more of the dirt that her eldest had been coated in. It looked almost like a raven in flight. Actually, it looked exactly like a raven in flight.

 

What an odd type of birthmark to have.

 

“Thorin,” Bella spoke, stealing her husband’s attention away from Finn and Lilli, “Do you know what this is?”

 

Thorin looked over at where she was indicating and his eyes widened in astonishment.

 

“Thorin?”

 

 _“Mahalul_ Tarâg!” he exclaimed, “Bella, that is the mark of Durin.”

 

“Oh, my.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

**(*)**

 

After the triplets were clean, dried off by new fluffier towels the color of cream, and dressed in their first clothes, (long, beautiful silver nightshirts made of an impossibly soft silken material and adorned, in Lilli’s case, with blue lace ribbons, hems and cuffs), Thorin and Bella carried them out to meet the rest of the family who had been waiting, not very patiently mind, in Bél’s sitting room.

 

“Bél?” Kíli asked, standing the moment they entered, “Is that…Can we…?”

 

Bella smiled brightly, “Yes, come over here, all of you.”

 

“Look, everybody,” Kíli was practically vibrating, “Dwobbits!”

 

“ _Melekûnkhûzd,” Ori piped up._

_“Bless me,” Bofur said in awe, “What a sight.”_

_“A sign of Mahal’s grace if there ever was one!” Glóin agreed._

“They’re such wee things!” Óin declared, “I’ve never seen babes so small.”

 

“Shuluk _khuzdinh kunjâlmazâm!” Bofur said proudly._

 

Bella shot him a look that was far more fond than exasperated, “All fauntlings are at least this tiny, and some are even smaller.”

 

“Oh,” Dís spoke as she caught her first glimpse of her nephews and niece, “You two have certainly done a fine job. They’re incredible.”

 

“Beautiful,” Fíli said, leaning over Bél’s shoulder to better take in his female cousin.

 

Bella turned to him and instructed, “Hold out your arms.”

 

“Why?” Fíli asked perplexed, but complying nonetheless.

 

Bella smoothly transferred her daughter into her brother’s arms, “So you can hold her, Nadad.”

 

Fíli looked terrified at the babe in his arms, “What if I drop her?!”

 

“You won’t,” Bella said confidently.

 

Fíli would have protested further, but Lilli chose that moment to reach up and grab his nose with a tiny giggle that sounded like the ringing of little golden bells. That giggle was all it took for Fíli to become totally ensnared with her.

 

“What are their names?” Tauriel asked when it became clear that Fíli had gone speechless.

 

“This is Frerin,” Thorin handed his eldest son to his sister.

 

“Brother,” Dís whispered in both shock and gratitude, cradling the boy close to her. Frerin took offense to being so coddled and immediately started to squirm. Dís laughed, “He is named well.”

 

“ _Pórbrandr de Dair_ , Fireblade of Oak, is his _Bayurkherum,” Thorin revealed._

 

“Are you sure you should have told all of us that?” Bombur asked in alarmed surprise.

 

“Aye,” Dwalin said, “It’s not exactly traditional.”

 

“You’re my brothers,” Bella waved away their concerns easily, taking Finn from Thorin and forcing Kíli to hold him, “And that also makes you their uncles, which gives you cause to know. This is Finnian.”

 

“His Secret Name is, _Hallgrímr_ _de Dair_ , Stone Defender of Oak,” Thorin said.

 

“And the princess?” Balin inquired.

 

“Trystalilli,” Bella told them, “ _Ragnhildr de Dair_ , the Great Warrior Lady of Oak.”

 

“Excellent choices!” Dori praised as he accepted Frerin from Dís.

 

“There is something else that you should all be made aware of,” Thorin said after a minute of watching his family play musical babies with the triplets, “Frerin has a very special mark on his shoulder.”

 

“Really?” Kíli asked, peeling back Rin’s, (whom Tauriel was currently holding), nightshirt to peek at the babe’s shoulder, “ _Mahalul zharmur_ khurûh _!”_

_“Language, Kíli,” Dís chided._

“But, Amad, look!”

 

Dís rolled her eyes and did so, before gasping audibly, “ _Oh, brother_.”

 

“What is it?” Óin demanded, “Is he ill?”

 

“No,” Dís said, “He bears the mark of Durin the Deathless.”

 

“ _Sul Zatanakiki Khulbur,” Balin said sagely after a very, very long period of stunned silence, “No dwarf in Middle Earth will dare to insinuate that Mahal is not looking favorably upon the line of Durin when this news spreads.”_

_Bella wasn’t entirely sure that she wanted this news to spread in any capacity._

 

It was then that Lilli began to fuss in Glóin’s arms.

 

“What did I do?” Glóin questioned in worry.

 

“Nothing,” Bella assured as she took Lilli into her arms, “She’s probably just hungry. They all probably are.”

 

“I’ll get their dishes and the food you picked out,” Thorin said quickly, making Bella look at him suspiciously.

 

“Very well,” she said as he disappeared into her kitchen, “Bofur, Tauriel, can you strap Finn and Rin into their highchairs please?”

 

Thorin returned not two minutes later and Bella quickly realized why he had wanted to be the one to get the food.

 

“Please tell me you didn’t secretly commission priceless baby bowls and spoons of gold, mithril, and gems to feed our newborns spiced pumpkin porridge.”

 

“Very well,” Thorin agreed.

 

“Thorin?”

 

“You told me not to tell you, Ughvashâ.”

 

Bella huffed as everyone else laughed.

 

**(*)**

 

The babies became tired soon after finishing their first meal, so Bella made up three (jeweled) bottles of sweet milk for them to drink should they get hungry in the night, and then Rin, Finn, and Lilli were placed into their gilded cradles.

Mother and Father shared a loaded look and then dragged all of their bedding into the nursery. A few minutes later, they had created a type of nest with all of the blankets and pillows to sleep in. Before they could settle down to sleep, they were joined by three other presences.

 

“And what are you three doing?” Thorin asked in amusement as his nephews and niece-by-engagement piled their own comforters into the room.

 

“Protecting our baby cousins,” Kíli said.

 

“Obviously,” Fíli added.

 

“Good night,” Tauriel said, curling up beside Kee.

 

Thorin and Bella gave each other fond grins before nestling down to sleep.

 

**(*)**

 

Gandalf met the triplets the following morning, and he spent so much time fawning over them that Bella had to wonder if he had ever actually seen a baby before.

 

“Of course I have, my dear Bella,” Gandalf replied to her unspoken question, “However I don’t often spend much time with them, with all of the traveling I do. Besides, these fauntlings are special. They’re yours.”

 

“It’s a bit creepy how you always seem to know what I’m thinking,” Bella told him, unable to hide her pleasure at his devotion to the triplets, “Do you know who the others think Frerin to be?”

 

“Durin the Deathless.”

 

“It’s quite a hefty destiny for one so tiny,” Bella whispered.

 

“Then it’s a very good thing that he will have such a large, loving family around to help him fulfill it.”

 

And Bella felt a little bit better.

 

**(*)**

 

The Naming Ceremony was that evening. The triplets were presented to all the dwarves of Erebor as their new princes and princess, tiny circlets of silver were placed upon their small heads, and their names were forever added to the Longbeard Clan Books. Fíli publicly claimed Frerin Thorinson as his heir. And then Rin was announced to be the Seventh Coming of Durin the Deathless.

 

Bella thought she knew how loud the dwarrows could get when they cheered. She was wrong. For a moment, she genuinely feared that another dragon had descended upon the kingdom. Judging by the strange look on Thorin’s face, he had too.

 

There was no dragon, but there was an excessive amount of fireworks set off, courtesy of Gandalf. Bard had rushed to the mountain with a battalion of men, fearing it was under attack, but once they had been told the good tidings by no less than forty-seven different dwarrows, all happily stayed to get drunk and celebrate.

 

Unfortunately, not everyone was so joyous upon receiving the news.

 

**(*)**

 

“How dare they!” the melodious voice shrieked, “How dare they claim that half-breed to be Durin!”

 

“Mistress-”

 

“Kill them all,” the first voice hissed, “The abominations _and_ their whore of a mother!”

 

**(*)**

 

The next day, Bella was interrupted while giving the triplets their breakfast of peach and strawberry oatmeal by a guard who urgently told her that the King needed her in Balin’s chambers as soon as possible. After recruiting Gala to watch the babies, Bella walked as swiftly to her brother’s rooms as she could without drawing the wrong kind of attention to herself.

 

“What’s going on?” Bella demanded once inside as she took in the grim countenances of her family.

 

“Some of my miners were swimming in the pool under the Eastern Drop and they accidentally found the body of a palace servant,” Bofur said softly, “Óin has just confirmed what they feared; it was the young dwarrowdam, Raylís.”

 

“Oh, sweet Eru,” Bella covered her mouth with her hand in sadness, “What happened to her?”

 

“She had been stabbed,” Kíli seethed, “And her neck was broken from being tossed down the falls.”

 

“The poor, poor dear,” Dori mourned, clutching Ori close as if his baby brother was also in danger. Ori just sighed and took it.

 

“I wouldn’t be so quick to feel sorry for her,” Nori said from behind them, apparently having entered the room by walking through the far wall since he hadn’t come in through the door.

 

“Nori?” Thorin spoke, “What did you find?”

 

“The Shadow Shields searched her rooms,” Nori revealed, “They found an abundance of Blightroot, both whole and in powder form.”

 

“But Raylís wasn’t on our suspect list,” Dwalin said in astonishment.

 

“Why not?” Bella asked.

 

“Because she wasn’t high enough in rank to have unfettered access to your chambers, Bél,” Fíli said.

 

“But she did,” Bella told them, “I’ve seen her in my chambers cleaning more than once on her own. On the night that the triplets were born she was in my room. She was who Thorin and I sent to fetch you all.”

 

The others shared alarmed looks.

 

“I spoke to Sóir,” Dís explained, “Not Raylís.”

 

“Me too,” Glóin chimed in.

 

“I spoke to Han,” Tauriel said.

 

“Aye,” Dwalin agreed, “He came and got the two of us and Kíli from the Archers’ Pavilion.”

 

“They were the guards assigned outside my doors that night,” Bella confirmed.

 

“Fetch them, now,” Thorin instructed, “If Raylís was responsible then she could not have been working alone.”

 

“I would say not,” Nori said as Dwalin moved off, “She was smart but naïve. There’s no way that she could have gotten the poison on her own.”

 

“She couldn’t have,” Ori added, “She was a servant girl, her salary wouldn’t have covered an ounce of Blightroot, let alone the amount that was in Bél’s perfumes.”

 

“Then it seems that you are looking for someone wealthy enough to have purchased the root,” Gandalf said, sweeping in dramatically.

 

“This is a closed meeting,” Dís glared at him.

 

Gandalf ignored her, “You won’t gain any information from the guards; there is very little chance that they were involved. You are surely looking for someone on the Lower Council, since I quite seriously doubt that any of _you_ tried to kill Bella. Is there anyone who has vocally disapproved of her being in Erebor?”

 

“On the Lower Council, who hasn’t?” Bella muttered before speaking more clearly, “Except for Móin and Bróin-”.

 

“Who are suck-ups,” Óin uttered loudly, “Always have been.”

 

Glóin nodded firmly.

 

“Yes, well, apart from them… it could have been anyone,” Bella finished, “Even those who act supportive have been heard talking about me as if I were a _plague_ or something else of that ilk.”

 

“How do you know-”

 

“Invisibility is a wonderful asset for finding out things others don’t want you to know,” Bella cut Kíli off.

 

“Ah,” he inclined his head in acknowledgement.

 

“If could be anyone,” Fíli inquired, “Then how are we supposed to figure out who is responsible?”

 

“I could poison all of their food,” Bombur offered, “And then we could tell them that they’ll all die if the one responsible for poisoning Bella doesn’t come forward. And if they refuse, we won’t have to deal with them anymore.”

 

Bella looked at her normally sweet-natured brother with ill-disguised shock. She then noted, with a great deal of alarm, that most of her family seemed to honestly be considering the plan. Gandalf was just looking at the high ceiling in exasperation.

 

“ _No_ ,” Bél protested, “We are _not_ poisoning anyone.”

 

“I quite agree,” Balin said, “Such rash action will not serve any of us well.”

 

Bella was relieved to have a brother with such a cool head, but then Fíli suddenly began to smirk and her relief evaporated.

 

“What?” Bella asked warily.

 

“We won’t need too,” he said confidently, “I have a plan.”

 

**(*)**

 

After Sóir and Han had been interrogated, and there was no additional helpful information gleaned from either of them, Fíli’s plan, which Bella still disapproved of, but she had been overruled by a bunch of overprotective dwarrows and a wizard, was set into motion that very evening. She didn’t get to see its execution, having elected to stay with the triplets and Gandalf, but she became aware of its success within minutes of the plan working.

 

Having been inspired by Bombur’s suggestion, Fíli had ordered the cooks to lace the food of the Lower Council, who had been invited to privately dine with the King, the Lady Dís, and the elder Princes as a reward for being _oh so supportive_ over the past three months, with a potent coughing tonic. The rest of the Company and several of Nori’s Shields were concealed within the walls of the small dinning hall, ready to intervene if they needed to.

 

Once all of the suspects had begun to choke and cough, Thorin had explained what was going on. He had told them that he knew one of them was behind the assassination attempt on his wife and Raylís’ death and that their food was poisoned. If the true culprit didn’t reveal himself or herself, then every member of the Lower Council would die in minutes.

 

The members were horrified, but once they realized that their stone-like King could not be moved to show mercy, they quickly began turning on one another, each revealing all sorts of petty crimes, shady dealings, and the like that they were aware the others had been involved in. Nori had been thrilled at the virtual gold-mine of sensitive information and he would later remark that they should have tried something similar years earlier.

 

Finally, as their coughing had become worse and worse, Lady Durita stood and cried out, “It was Lady Blini! I found… Blightroot in her… room yesterday!”

 

“What!?” Lady Blini reportedly had looked beyond horrified, “I would never have hurt the Queen!”

 

“She certainly didn’t,” Fíli had said coldly, “Arrest Lady Durita.”

 

Dwalin, Tauriel, and Nori’s Shield’s poured out from the walls

 

“She didn’t… have anything… to do with it!” her older sister had protested fearfully through her harsh hacking, “She… couldn’t have!”

 

“We told everyone that the Queen had been poisoned with more Shadowlock,” Kíli told her in response, “Only someone involved could have known that the second poisoning attempt was made with something as rare and expensive as Blightroot.”

 

Durita had been dragged off to the dungeons and Thorin had explained that the coughing would stop soon, and that they had never been in any real danger to begin with.

 

Bella had a feeling that the Lower Council was going to be extremely wary in word and deed for quite a long time now. Thorin had pardoned them for what they had revealed under pressure, in repayment for the humiliation they had endured, on the condition that they never forget that he would do anything to protect his One and that if he ever discovered they had knowledge about something that could potentially harm her that they neglected to share, they would be banished, (at the very least), from Erebor.

 

It was hours before everyone else filtered into Bél’s sitting room.

 

“You had all better scrub your hands raw before you even think about touching the triplets,” Bella instructed with a frown as she caught sight of the tell-tale red tint of their palms and fingers, “Is she gone?”

 

“No,” Thorin said, “There will have to be a trial, but she confessed to everything. She was even involved in Kálvur and Krill’s first attempt. She had been planning on making a third when the second failed. That was why she killed Raylís…”

 

“Thorin?” Bella prompted when he trailed off and didn’t seem to want to continue.

 

“For all that Raylís was a bitch that deserved what she got,” Nori answered for him, “She had some moral standards. Durita ordered her to kill the triplets along with you in her next attempt. Raylís refused and so Durita killed her in a fit of anger.”

 

Bella went pale and clutched the sleeping Lilli closer to her bosom, her eyes immediately seeking out her sons from where they were playing with Gandalf on a thick woolen blanket. They were entirely focused on chewing on the Wizard’s fingers and oblivious to the danger they could have been in.

 

“She’ll be facing execution tomorrow,” Glóin assured, “She’ll never get to the little ones.”

 

“I have to go to _that_ , don’t I?”

 

“Yes, as the Queen it is expected of you,” Thorin admitted, “I am sorry, Ghivashel.”

 

“It’s fine,” Bella said as she rocked Lilli, “I just don’t imagine it will be a very pleasant experience.

**(*)**

 

Bella had been right, the trial and following execution were not pleasant at all. In fact, thinking about either made her want to throw up. Every time she closed her eyes she could see Lady Duruta desperately pleading for her little sister’s life and the hatred in Durita’s hot gaze. The latter hadn’t been even remotely sorry and had spewed more bile from her lips in an hour than Kálvur had in four and a half years.

 

Bella hadn’t been able to force herself to watch the sentence being carried out. She had kept her gaze solely on a fixed point above the executioner’s block. She wished she had been able to run out of the room like Duruta had. What she _had_ done was lock herself up in her bathroom for an hour following the gruesome event.

 

Fortunately, her loved ones seemed to realize that she was out of sorts and so the following day, even though it was not a Trewsday, the family trekked outside of the mountain to have a picnic lunch in a beautiful little glen that had a tiny river and an abundance of wildflowers.

 

It was the perfect place to unwind, to forget about the unpleasantness involving assassination attempts, and to just focus on the glorious light that was the triplets’ presence. It was their first trip outside of Erebor and they drunk in every new sight with glee and laughter.

 

When they tired of being carried around in all directions by their cousins, uncles, and aunts, Bella prepared some sweet milk for them to drink and then listened happily as Thorin sang them to sleep.

 

 _The world was young, the mountains green,_ _No stain yet on the Moon was seen,_ _No words were laid on stream or stone,_ _When Durin woke and walked alone._ _He named the nameless hills and dells;_ _He drank from yet untasted wells;_ _He stooped and looked in Mirrormere,_ _And saw a crown of stars appear,_ _As gems upon a silver thread,_ _Above the shadow of his head._

 

 _The world was fair, the mountains tall,_ _In Elder Days before the fall_ _Of mighty kings in Nargothrond_ _And Gondolin, who now beyond_ _The Western Seas have passed away:_ _The world was fair in Durin's Day._

 

 _A king he was on carven throne_ _In many-pillared halls of stone_ _With golden roof and silver floor,_ _And runes of power upon the door._ _The light of sun and star and moon_ _In shining lamps of crystal hewn_ _Undimmed by cloud or shade of night_ _There shone for ever fair and bright._

 

 _There hammer on the anvil smote,_ _There chisel clove, and graver wrote;_ _There forged was blade, and bound was hilt;_ _The delver mined, the mason built._ _There beryl, pearl, and opal pale,_ _And metal wrought like fishes' mail,_ _Buckler and corslet, axe and sword,_ _And shining spears were laid in hoard._

 

 _Unwearied then were Durin's folk;_ _Beneath the mountains music woke:_ _The harpers harped, the minstrels sang,_ _And at the gates the trumpets rang._

 

 _The world is grey, the mountains old,_ _The forge's fire is ashen-cold;_ _No harp is wrung, no hammer falls:_ _The darkness dwells in Durin's halls;_ _The shadow lies upon his tomb_ _In Moria, in Khazad-dum._ _But still the sunken stars appear_ _In dark and windless Mirrormere;_ _There lies his crown in water deep,_ _Till Durin wakes again from sleep._

 

“Um, uncle?” Kíli made them all look up, where they were graced with an unexpected sight. The glen was full of hundreds of tiny fairies, with wings made of actual rainbows and trailing golden dust behind them, apparently having been listening to Thorin’s singing.

 

“Oh,” Ori breathed out in amazement. Dwalin took his hand and kissed it softly.

 

The fairies clapped politely and then began to fly away.

 

One of the fae, however, fluttered down and pressed a tiny kiss to Bél’s cheek before flitting away with the others.

 

“Did I never mention?” Bella said as the others looked at her in surprise, “I’m half Took, and all Tooks have fairy blood in them.”

 

**(*)**

 

“Do be safe,” Bella instructed Gandalf as he prepared to leave them once more.

 

“I shall send you word once I reach Rivendell to assure you that I am alright,” Gandalf promised as he mounted his grey horse.

 

“Do give Lord Elrond and Arwen my regards. I do miss them,” Bella requested.

 

“Certainly,” Gandalf agreed with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, “Though I do believe you shall be seeing them for yourself quite soon.”

 

Thorin choked, “What?!”

 

“Farewell!” Gandalf called as he rode off.

 

**(*)**

 

Epilogue:

 

One Year and Five Months Later:

 

“Thorin!” Bella called in excitement, “Come quickly!”

 

“Âzyungel?”

 

“We have another flower.”

 

_My grammar may not be perfect. Here are the translations for the Khuzd_ _û_ _l words and phrases I used:_

 

  * _Mimûn_ _\- Little One (Boy)_
  * _Inùdoyuh_ _\- My Son(s)_
  * _Nathithuh_ _\- My Daughter_
  * _Zâyungi_ _mênuyothur_ _n_ _i_ _dif_ _furkh_ _\- I love you more than life._
  * _Mizimûh halw_ _\- My Sweet Jewels_
  * _Mahalul_ _Tarâg!_ _\- Mahal’s Beard!_
  * _Melekûnkhûzd_ _\- Dwobbits_
  * _Shuluk_ _khuzdinh kunjâlmazâm_ _\- Baby Bunnies_
  * _Bayurkherum_ _\- Secret Name_
  * _Mahalul zharmur_ _khurûh_ _!_ _\- Mahal’s Hairy Balls_
  * _Amad_ \- Mother
  * _Sul Zatanakiki Khulbur_ _\- Everything Happens for a Reason_
  * _Ughvashâ_ \- Greatest Treasure
  * _Ghivashel_ _-_ Treasure of all Treasures; Beloved
  *          _Â_ _zyungel_ \- Love of All Loves



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there you have it! I may write a sequel involving Mahal’s special blessing if there are enough requests for one, but I have to finish my other story first, and that might take awhile. If you guys want to see what the triplets look like as adults you can check out the other story in this series. I’m no artist, unless you count writing, so you’ll just have to use your imaginations for the Dwobbits as babies. And no, nobody warned Bella that one of her children could end up being the seventh coming of Durin the Deathless. Also, fairies! Thanks so much for reading and providing your support! I really appreciate it!

**Author's Note:**

> Next part will be up soon guys!
> 
> Update: Oh my goodness! The incredibly talented elenorasweet created a fanart for this. You can check it out at http://archiveofourown.org/works/2158986. It's beautiful!
> 
> Additional Update: I was wondering if any of you might have any cute ideas for baby names for the next part.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Yavanna's flowers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2158986) by [elenorasweet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elenorasweet/pseuds/elenorasweet)




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